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LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

GIFT  OF 

THE   FAMILY  OF  REV.  DR.  GEORGE   MOOAR 

Class 

1 

— • 

ASA   TURNER 


A    HOME    MISSIONARY    PATRIARCH 


AND   HIS   TIMES 


BY   GEORGE    F.   MAGOUN,   D.D. 

First  President  of  loiva  College. 


INTRODUCTION    BY    A.    H.    CLAPP,    D.D. 


IICAGO 
Congregational  SunDag=5crjaol  ano  ihtbltsrjing  Sorictg 


Copyright,  1889,  by 
Congregational  Sunday-School  and  Publishing  Society. 


Electrotyped  and  Printed  by 
Samuel  Usher,  ill  Devonshire  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 


TO  THE 

Cljurrfjes  of  loixia, 

WHOSE  NOBLE   FRUITAGE  IS  LARGELY  DUE 

TO  THE 

SEED-SOWING  HERE   RECORDED, 

THIS    VOLUME 

IS  DEDICATED. 


123132 


INTRODUCTION. 


Death  is  not  a  rare  visitor.  He  comes  often,  and  takes  our 
greatest  and  best,  as  well  as  the  unknown,  unloved,  and  unmissed. 
But  not  often  does  he  bear  away  a  man  like  Asa  Turner.  This 
world  of  the  dying  has  few  such  men  to  lose.  When  such  a  man 
is  taken,  the  Christian  brotherhood  is  left  vastly  the  poorer.  It  is 
therefore  a  sacred  duty  to  keep  fragrant  and  influential,  so  long 
as  it  may  be  kept,  a  memory  so  precious.  Only  those  who  have 
tried  it  can  know  how  hard  a  task  it  is  —  not  simply  to  record  the 
outward  events  of  a  long  and  busy  life,  but — to  reproduce,  for 
those  who  never  saw  him,  the  man,  his  personality,  his  work,  his 
spirit,  his  influence  on  the  churches,  the  ministers,  the  denomina- 
tion that  he  loved,  and  on  the  great  states  into  whose  early  mate- 
rial and  spiritual  development  he  put  so  strong  a  hand,  so  wise  and 
wide  a  mind,  and  so  warm  a  heart.  But  the  friends  of  Father 
Turner  have  in  this  been  greatly  favored.  The  task  of  painting 
his  picture  for  the  instruction  and  cheer  of  those  who  come  after 
has  fallen  to  friends  and  brethren  with  whom  it  is  a  labor  of  love. 
Few  men  knew  Father  Turner  longer  or  more  intimately  than  did 
he  who  has  borne  the  chief  responsibility  of  this  memoir;  and 
fewer  still  wield  pens  that  could  so  deftly  outline  his  strong, 
marked,  forceful,  well-nigh  unique  character.  But  other  friends, 
well  fitted  for  the  work,  have  lovingly  brought  in  their  lights  and 
shadows,  till  here  in  bold  relief  stand  out  —  as  vividly  as  the 
engraved  portrait  gives  the  lineaments  of  his  face— the  intellectual 
and  spiritual  features  of  the  man  as  they  knew  him  well,  at  home, 
in  the  pulpit,  the  parish,  the  multifarious  fields  of  humane,  educa- 
tional, reformatory,  moral,  and  Christian  effort,  filling  to  the  brim 
a  life  of  more  than  fourscore  years. 


6  INTBODUCTION. 

There  can  come  only  good  from  sending  forth  and  from  reading 
this  volume.  Students  of  the  history  of  our  Western  states  may 
see  here  what  manner  of  men  they  were  who  laid  in  self-denial, 
faith,  and  prayer  the  deep  and  sure  foundations  of  those  wonder- 
ful empires.  Aspiring  teachers,  eager  to  hand  down  their  names 
in  honorable  connection  with  some  permanent  institution  of 
learning,  may  see  the  cost  at  which  that  distinction  is  to  be  hon- 
estly won.  Young  ministers  and  candidates  for  that  sacred  call- 
ing may  learn  reverence  for  the  men  to  whose  patient  toil,  sancti- 
fied common-sense,  far-seeing  wisdom,  and  faith,  are  due,  under 
God,  the  existence  and  glorious  history  of  the  more  than  twenty- 
three  hundred  Congregational  churches  now  blessing,  and  in 
coming  years  to  bless  more  and  more,  those  wide  realms  that  in 
Father  Turner's  youth  were  only  known  as  a  waste,  howling 
wilderness.  And  every  one  who  loves  to  see  an  honest,  single- 
minded,  earnest,  sincere  man,  a  hater  of  shams,  one  who  values 
life  for  its  opportunities  to  work  for  Christ  and  his  fellow-men ; 
who  consecrates  to  that  end  all  his  time,  native  gifts,  acquisitions, 
personal,  social,  and  official  influence ;  who  sees  no  other  use  for 
strength,  learning,  wit,  friendship,  or  deepest  sacred  experience 
—  may  look  into  this  book  and  find  just  that  man.  And  having 
found  him,  he  will  not  wonder  that  all  who  knew  Asa  Turner 
intimately  —  and  even  we  who  knew  him  only  from  too  infrequent 
but  unforgotten  meetings — loved  him  so  well,  and  count  it  as 
one  of  the  bright  attractions  of  heaven  that  we  trust  to  meet 
him  there  with  the  Saviour  whom  he  here  served  with  unstinted 

devotion. 

A.  H.  CLAPP. 
Bible  House,  New  York, 

April  16,  1889. 


PREFACE. 


A  first  object  in  this  piece  of  biography  has  been  to  set  forth 
the  subject  of  it  as  "himself  and  not  another."  If  his  Christian 
individuality  had  not  been  deemed  by  many  worthy  of  a  memo- 
rial, it  would  not  have  been  prepared.  Another  purpose  has  been 
to  sketch  the  story  in  connection  with  two  imperial  states  of 
the  Interior  in  so  far  as  he  early  bore  in  them  a  noble  part.  At 
least  the  materials  of  this  record,  now  fast  passing  out  of 
remembrance,  it  was  thought  should  be  preserved. 

That  a  patriarchal  home  missionary  of  a  simple  but  unique 
character  forms  here  the  central  figure  is  not  altogether  due  to  an 
observance  of  Macaulay's  suggestion  to  write  history  biographi- 
cally.  It  came  to  be  so  by  the  necessity  of  the  case.  Christian 
men  who  give  their  lives  from  youth  on  to  the  development  of 
such  marvelous  American  commonwealths  as  have  emerged  from 
the  wilderness  in  the  past  fifty  years,  and  are  now  emerging,  can 
not  help  becoming  historical  persons,  if  they  would. 

When  the  book  was  first  undertaken  the  materials  for  even  a 
personal  sketch  seemed  to  be  scanty.  Like  the  patriarchs  of  old, 
"Father  Turner"  kept  no  diary,  nor  copies  of  his  own  letters, 
nor,  generally,  those  received  from  his  friends.  Much  time 
and  inquiry  brought  little  return.  But  when  the  surrounding 
facts  began  to  be  gathered  about  his  life  an  opposite  embarrass- 
ment arose.  A  great  deal  more  has  been  left  than  is  embraced  in 
these  pages.  And  the  drawing  of  sharp  lines  —  local,  chrono- 
logical, ecclesiastical,  and  other—  has  continually  been  needful. 

The  usual  information  given  in  this  place,  that  the  subject  of 
the  biography  speaks  for  himself,  wherever  this  has  been  possible, 
is  quite  superfluous.  Readers  will  soon  discover  it  for  them- 
selves. 

The  book  is  most  of  all  indebted  for  what  it  contains  to  his 
family  friends,  and  next  after  them  —  among  too  many  to  name 
—  to  Rev.  Julius  A.  Reed,  of  Davenport  (from  1855  to  1860  the 
writer's  "parishioner"  there),  whose  unusual  fulness  of  infor- 


8  PREFACE. 

mation  and  accuracy  as  to  the  past  need  no  certificate  in  Iowa. 
Some  of  the  best  materials  here  used,  and  a  good  part  of  the 
stimulus  to  weave  them  into  one  fabric,  have  been  derived  from 
his  printed  reminiscences,  private  letters,  and  personal  conversa- 
tion—  an  open  and  generous  store. 

The  life  that  has  occasioned  these  pages  was  that  of  one  who 
became  a  good  man  under  the  predominance,  early  in  this  century, 
of  a  denomination  whose  polity  he  accepted,  but  whose  creed  he 
did  not.  He  became  an  apostolic  laborer  in  a  wide  region  under 
the  predominance  of  another  with  whose  evangelical  faith  he 
sympathized,  but  with  whose  church  government  he  did  not.  A 
magnanimous  Christian  liberality,  joined  with  very  clear  and  dis- 
tinctive convictions,  was  one  result;  large  reverence  and  love 
from  good  men  was  another. 

The  pleasant  labor  concluding  with  these  lines  has  given  a  new 
revelation  of  a  marked  personal  character  and  caused  propor- 
tionate delight  in  it.  The  writer  dearly  loved  the  patriarch  when 
he  began,  and  counted  the  confidence  and  affection  received  from 
him  for  forty  years  one  of  his  most  precious  possessions.  But  he 
lays  down  the  pen  with  his  filial  feeling  and  veneration  so  increased 
that  he  seems  to  have  had  little  before.  To  live  with  him  again, 
as  it  were,  for  many  months  has  been  a  cherished  privilege.  How 
much  greater  will  be  the  privilege  of  meeting  such  a  servant  of 
Christ  at  the  Master's  feet ! 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.    A  New  England  Birthplace 11 

II.    A  New  England  Boy 19 

III.  A  Christian  Convert 26 

IV.  Unitarian  and  Orthodox  Seventy  Years  Since  .  34 
V.  A  Teacher  and  a  Student    .........  40 

VI.  At  Yale  College.  —  Rebellion.  —  Revivals     .    .  45 

VII.    Preparing  for  the  Ministry 55 

VIII.    Foreshadowings  of  Domestic  Life 64 

IX.    Early  Illinois  and  Early  Qutncy 71 

N.    The  People  and  their  Preachers 77 

XL    Home  Missionary  Beginnings 82 

XII.    A  Pioneer  Pastorate 91 

XIII.  Other  Pioneers.  —  Illinois  College 98 

XIV.  The  Pioneers  and  their  College.  —  Continued  .  107 
XV.    Work  other  than  Pastoral 114 

XVI.  The  Planting  of  Congregationalism  in  Illinois  .  123 

XVII.  Frontier  Sabbaths.  —  Temperance.  —  Missions      .  134 

XVIII.    General  Evangelizing  Labors 143 

XIX.    Two  Anti-Slavery  Episodes .152 

XX.    Fresh  Fields. —Early  Iowa 166 

XXI.  The  Gospel  West  of  the  Father  of  Rivers    .    .  178 

XXII.    Early  Denmark 184 

XXIII.  A  New  Home  and  Work 191 

XXIV.  First  Fellow-Pioneers  in  Iowa 198 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

XXV.  Fellow-Pioneers.  — Continued 207 

XXVI.  Second  Pioneer  Pastorate      218 

XXVII.  A  Notable  Accession 223 

XXVIII.  The  Younger  Contingent 231 

XXIX.  The  First  Academy  and  the  First  College  .  241 

XXX.  More  Work  and  Work  for  More 252 

XXXI.  Steady  Progress  in  Iowa 260 

XXXII.  The  Higher  Christian  Education 268 

XXXIII.  Reform  and  Reform  Politics 279 

XXXIV.  A  Long  Pastorate  Ended 293 

XXXV.  The  Decline  of  Life 301 

XXXVI.  The  End 313 

XXXVII.  Characteristics 319 

XXXVIII.  Some  Heartfelt  Tributes 332 

Appendix.  Denominations  and  Christian  Unity  ....  336 


ASA   TURNER, 

A     HOME     MISSIONARY     PATRIARCH, 

AND   HIS   TIMES. 


I. 

A   NEW   ENGLAND    BIRTHPLACE. 

Templeton,  Massachusetts,  is  one  of  the  rocky  and 
hilly  towns  in  the  north-west  of  Worcester  County.  It  tis 
twenty-six  miles  from  the  city  of  Worcester  at  the  south- 
east, and  a  little  shorter  distance  west  of  Fitchburg.  It 
is  just  west  of  a  line  drawn  through  the  highlands  from 
Mount  Wachusett  in  the  town  of  Princeton  to  Mount 
Monadnock  in  the  town  of  Jaffrey,  New  Hampshire.  On 
a  fair  day  the  summits  of  these  mountains  are  clearly 
seen  at  the  north  and  the  south-east  from  the  country 
roads.  Templeton  is  picturesque  and  olden  ;  abounding 
in  evergreen  forests  and  heavy  stone  fences  of  the  primi- 
tive New  England  sort,  in  square  old  houses,  built  for 
large  families,  with  a  single  stout  chimney  in  the  center, 
and  in  great  and  aged  elms  along  the  roadways.  The  soil 
is  variable  in  quality,  much  of  it  being  valuable  only  for 
the  trees  it  bears ;  there  are  blueberries  and  blackberries 
in  the  woods ;  the  climate  is  such  that  "  plants  that  are 
hardy  only  a  few  miles  distant  fail  to  survive  the  winter  " ; 
hay  and  potatoes  are  the  chief  crops,  though  apples  also 


12  ASA    TUB  NEB. 

are  raised.  The  people  are  not  altogether  farmers.  It  is 
impossible  on  their  rough  acres  to  make  a  living  without 
some  outside  labor.  A  visitor  will  notice  the  wives  and 
daughters  weaving  cane  backs  and  seats  of  chairs  for  the 
factories  at  Gardner,  the  next  town  east.  Two  genera- 
tions or  more  ago  a  family  which  bought  a  farm  of  two 
hundred  acres,  including  rocks,  was  forty  years  paying  for 
it,  meeting  the  interest  on  the  purchase  and  the  taxes  b}^ 
boarding  successive  teachers  of  the  district  school.  It 
boasted  eleven  children,  who,  at  six  years  of  age,  "  as 
soon  as  they  could  sit  on  the  bench,"  began  seating 
chairs. 

The  town  is  now  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  old, 
though  incorporated  as  "  Templetown,"  July  22,  1761,  in 
the  second  calendar  year  of  the  reign  of  King  George  III. 
It  had  been  known  for  some  years  as  "  Narraganset,  No. 
6,"  one  of  the  seven  townships  granted  by  uthe  Great 
and  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  Bay  "  to  soldiers  of 
the  Narraganset  War  and  their  descendants.  In  1727 
two  townships  of  six  miles  square  had  been  given  them; 
and  in  1733  five  more  added,  as  eight  hundred  and  fifty 
names  had  been  entered  —  "each  propriety  or  township 
to  be  held  and  enjoyed  by  one  hundred  and  twenty  of 
the  grantees."  Of  these  seven  "Narraganset"  town- 
ships,1 "  No.  1  "  and  "  No.  7  "  became  Buxton  and  Gor- 
ham,  Maine ;  two  others  were  in  that  part  of  New  Hamp- 
shire then  claimed  by  Massachusetts,  namely,  u  No.  3  " 
and  "  No.  5,"  now  Amherst  and  Bedford,  N.  H. ;  "  No.  2  " 
became  Westminster,  Mass. ;  and  "  No.  4  "  was  near  Hat- 
field. The  proprietors  of  "  No.  6,"  Templetown,  or 
Templeton,  were  mostly,  says  Rev.  E.  G.  Adams  in  his 

1  An  earlier  grant  had  been  made  in  1685  of  eight  miles  square  "  in  the  Nipmug 
country"  for  services  "in  the  late  Indian  Warr"  to  men  of  Lynn,  Reading, 
Beverly,  and  Hingham.  — Hist.  Wore.  Co.  2:  389. 


A   NEW  ENGLAND  BIBTHPLACE.  13 

Centennial  Discourse,  "from  Concord,  Groton,  Lancaster, 
Bolton,  Littleton,  Westford,  Chelmsford,  Stowe,  Marlboro', 
Billerica,  and  Woburn."  The  Massachusetts  and  Maine 
Historical  Collections  add  Lexington,  Farmington,  Shel- 
burne,  Stoneham,  and  Southboro'. 

On  Boston  Common,  June,  1732,  the  Narraganset 
claimants  all  drew  lots  for  townships.  A  hundred  and 
twenty  of  them  drew  land  "  west  of  Penacook  and  Sun- 
cook."  This  was  afterwards  judicially  found  to  fall 
within  "  Captain  Mason's  grant,"  *  and  exchanged  for  a 
township  "  on  the  back  of  Rutland,"  Worcester  County. 
From  not  knowing  of  this  exchange  a  writer  in  the  Maine 
Historical  Collections  is  perplexed.  This  Templeton 
township  "back  of  Rutland  "  comprised,  according  to  the 
History  of  Worcester  County,  23,440  acres ;  "  23,040  for 
the  six  miles  square,  300  for  the  Mine  Farm  [so  called], 
and  100  for  a  pond."  From  this  and  Athol,  Gerry  was 
taken,  1774,  and  incorporated  as  Phillipston,  1786.2 
From  its  eastern  side 3  something  was  taken  in  1785  for 
the  town  of  Gardner. 

It  was  required  by  the  General  Court  of  those  who 
secured  one  of  these  townships  that  they  should  "  pass 
such  rules  and  orders  as  shall  effectually  oblige  them  to 
settle  sixty  families  at  least  within  said  township,  with  a 
learned  Orthodox  minister,  within  seven  years  from  date 
of  grant."  It  is  said  of  the  Templeton  proprietors 4  that 
the  four  great  "things  they  were  determined  to  have, 
whatever  else  they  might  go  without,  were  roads,  mills, 
schools,  and  church  institutions." 

At    Concord,  in    1733,  they  first   met   as  incorporated 

1  Now  Concord  and  Pembroke,  N.  H. 

2  "  West  Parish  "  or  "  Second  Precinct." 

3  The  land  taken  was  a  tract  of  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred  acres.    The  whole 
region  is  now  Ailed  with  prosperous  towns  and  villages. 

4  Centennial  Discourse. 


14  ASA    TURNER. 

proprietors,  and  sent  men  "  into  the  woods "  to  explore 
and  survey.  But  for  fifteen  years  French  and  Indian 
hostilities  prevented  a  settlement  upon  their  lands. 
There  was  great  deliberation,  also,  after  the  original 
fashion  of  the  New  England  fathers,  as  to  those  allowed 
to  come  in.  In  1734-5  "  the  best  of  the  upland "  was 
divided  into  house-lots,  forty  acres  each,  a  hundred  and 
twenty-three  in  all.  Lots  for  the  future  school,  meeting- 
house, and  minister  were  also  set  apart.  It  was  not  till 
1751  that  the  first  house  was  erected. 

The  next  year  fifteen  or  eighteen  families  had  come 
together  in  the  wilderness.  The  proprietors  that  year 
"  granted  a  tax  of  four  shillings  on  each  right  of  land  " 
to  provide  preaching  for  the  ensuing  winter.  This  opera- 
tion they  repeated  the  next  year,  and  there  being  now 
twenty  families,  they  determined  to  build  a  meeting-house, 
fifty  feet  by  forty.1  The  chestnut  timbers  of  the  frame 
were  cut  upon  the  common,  at  one  side  of  which  it  stood. 
On  this  common,  even  after  the  first  minister  was  settled, 
a  child  straying  on  Sabbath  from  meeting  was  lost  in  the 
woods,  and  "the  whole  congregation  turned  out  to  search 
for  it." 

Two  years  after  this  building  was  erected,  the  first 
church  was  organized,  1755,  though  for  half  a  dozen 
years  there  was  no  town  incorporation.  This  was,  and 
still  is,  the  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Templeton.  A 
minister  was  then  ordained,  the  Rev.  David  Pond.  In 
1762,  when  the  town  was  incorporated,  a  second  minister2 
had  been  settled  three  months,  and  the  people  numbered 
about  three  hundred  souls. 

1  The  building  was  Town  House  as  well  as  place  of  worship. 

2  Coming  from  Rutland  on  horseback  to  his  "  parish,"  this  minister  lost  the  road, 
then  indicated  in  a  western  fashion  "  by  marked  trees."  Night  coming  on,  he  fast- 
ened his  horse  to  a  tree  and  trod  a  circle  about  him  all  night.  One  born  in  the 
town  a  generation  later  was  to  be  wonted  to  similar  clerical  experiences  in  Illinois 
and  Iowa. 


A  NEW  ENGLAND  BIRTHPLACE.  15 

In  this  primitive  town,  so  fashioned  a  century  after  the 
Pilgrims,  and  half  a  century  before  the  Revolution,  be- 
tween Wasett  Ridge  and  the  Connecticut  Valley,  Edward 
Turner,  of  Walpole,  Norfolk  County,  Mass.,  bought  land 
in  1768,  and  made  a  home.  At  that  time  "  the  frontier 
towns  of  the  white  man  were  Brookfield,  Lancaster,  and 
Lunenburg;  then  [came]  the  wilderness  unsettled  to 
Northfield,  Deerfield,  and  Hadley." 

He  was  the  second  son  of  Joseph  Turner,  of  Walpole, 
one  of  fourteen  children,  of  whom  the  first,  Joseph, 
removed  to  South  Dedham  and  Keene,  N.  H.,  and  the 
seventh,  Reuben,  to  Farmington,  Maine.  The  fifth  son, 
Ebenezer,  born  in  the  new  home,  Templeton,  1772,  lived 
at  Dedham  and  Farmington  in  his  youth  with  relatives, 
and  at  the  age  of  fifty-nine  emigrated  to  Adams  County, 
Illinois,  where  his  nephew,  the  subject  of  this  volume, 
had  been  a  home  missionary  a  year  or  more.  This 
Ebenezer  Turner,  in  1849,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven, 
drew  up  a  genealogy  in  which  he  records :  — 

"My  father  .  .  .  cleared  a  small  farm,  and,  we  sup- 
pose, lived  prosperously  till  the  commencement  of  the 
war  of  the  Revolution,  when  he  engaged  in  the  army.1 
Was  at  Bunker  Hill ; 2  thence  to  Saratoga ;  and  in 
December,  1777,  died  at  Halfmoon,  near  Albany,  of  the 
small-pox,  having  never  been  wounded.3  My  mother  was 
left  with  seven  children,  Adam,  Lewis,  Asa,  Ellis, 
Ebenezer  (the  writer),  Polly,  and  Amasa." 

The  little  town  was  thoroughly  patriotic.  It  sustained  by 
corporate  action  in  1772  Boston's  defence  of  charter  rights 
against  the  king ;  sent  two  years  later  its  only  representa- 
tive to  a  General  Court  called  by  royal  order ;  obliged  the 

1  "  An  officer  of  some  sort."  —  Letter  of  Prof.  J.  B.  Turner. 

2  "  Commanded  his  company  in  the  battle."  —  Ibid. 

3  His  age  at  death  was  thirty -eight. 


16  ASA    TUENEB. 

same  year  a  Tory  to  recant ;  voted  not  to  use  tea  or  aity 
goods  subject  to  duty ;  and  provided  pay  for  its  soldiers. 
Throughout  the  Revolution  it  had  committees  of  corre- 
spondence. In  1779  it  raised  prices  twentyfold  and  paid 
them :  meat,  4s.  a  pound  (Continental  currency)  ;  and 
judged  "too  low  in  proportion  to  salt  and  rum"  (!); 
good  common  dinner,  14s. ;  New  England  flip  or  toddy, 
15s.  per  mug  or  "  bowl " ;  carpenter's  or  mason's  work, 
X3  to  <£3,  6s.  per  day ;  shirts,  <£4,  16s.  apiece  ("good  tow 
cloth")  ;  wheat,  c£8  per  bushel;  oats,  X2  per  bushel. 

This  revolutionary  soldier's  widow  is  said  to  have  relied 
upon  pea  soup  for  her  family  of  eight.  "I  can  readily 
believe,"  writes  a  descendant,  "that  she  lived  on  vege- 
tables, as  you  have  heard,  or  on  nothing ;  utterly  destitute 
of  every  thing  except  their  cabin  and  their  little  clearing 
in  the  forests,  [left]  to  struggle  alternately  with  poverty, 
the  wild  beasts,  and  the  Indians,  none  of  which  did  she 
fear.  I  never  heard  her  utter  a  word  of  complaint  about 
personal  hardships  or  struggles  in  life." 

Among  her  seven  children  of  those  revolutionary  days, 
Asa,  perhaps  born  at  Walpole,  remained  upon  the  home- 
stead at  Templeton,  was  four  years — from  1802  on  — 
elected  one  of  the  selectmen  of  the  town,  a  civil  office 
of  more  honor  then  than  now,  and  was  called  "  Captain 
Asa."  His  son  Asa,  one  of  eight  children,  and  known 
West  and  East,  till  his  father's  death  in  1856,  as  Rev. 
Asa  Turner,  Jr.,  is  the  subject  of  this  volume.  In  an 
autobiography  written  for  his  children  in  his  eightieth 
year,  he  says :  — 

"  I  was  born  June  11,  1799,  in  Templeton,  Worcester 
County,  Mass.  My  father's  name  was  Asa.  My  mother's 
name  was  Abigail  Baldwin.1     My  grandfather's  name  was 

1  His  mother's  name  also  had  strong  patriotic  associations.    Jonathan  Baldwin 
was  the  last  town  representative  to  a  General  Court  convoked  by  Gage,  royal 


A   NEW  ENGLAND  BIRTHPLACE.  17 

Edward.  My  grandmother's  name  was  Hannah  Fisher 
["daughter  of  William  Fisher  of  Walpole,"  genealogy 
quoted  above].  They  were  natives  of  Walpole.  My 
great-grandfather  was  Joseph  Turner,  of  Walpole.  He 
was  son  of  Eben  Turner,  of  Medfield,  about  twenty  miles 
from  Boston.  My  grandfather  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  and  participated  in  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill.  He  was  also  present  at  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne. 
He  died  from  small-pox  while  the  Federal  army  was 
encamped  in  winter  quarters  near  Albany.  This  is  as  far 
as  I  can  trace  my  ancestry." 

The  line  of  descent  then  is  this  : — 1,  Ebenezer  Turner  of 
Medfield ;  2,  Joseph  of  Walpole  ;  3,  Edward  of  Walpole 
and  Templeton ;  4,  Asa  of  Templeton ;  5,  Asa,  Jr.,  of 
Templeton. 

The  descendants  of  the  fifth  generation  were  born  on 
the  homestead  farm,  some  two  miles  southward  from  the 
center  of  the  old  town  of  Templeton,  which  has  now 
three  villages  or  post-office  stations :  the  Center,  East 
Templeton,  Otter  River  village,  and  Baldwins ville  (at  the 
crossing  of  the  Fitchburg  and  Ware  River  railroads). 
At  the  Center,  on  the  west  side  of  the  old  common, 
stands  the  primitive-looking  two-story  sanctuary  of  the 
First  Church,  with  a  large  brick  school-house  and  a  lecture- 
room.  At  the  east,  near  the  corner  of  the  common, 
stand  the  Orthodox  Church  and  the  Boynton  Library. 
Pleasant  roadways  run  among  the  hills  and  woods  to  the 

governor,  to  meet,  1774,  at  Salem  (which  adjourned  to  Concord  as  a  "  Provincial 
Congress  "),  was  sent  to  the  two  Congresses  of  1775  at  Cambridge  and  Watertown, 
and  to  the  General  Court  of  that  year  at  Watertown  after  Governor  Gage  and  other 
royal  machinery  had  disappeared.  Mrs.  Asa  Turner  named  her  sixth  son,  Jona- 
than Baldwin.  That  was  the  name  of  one  of  her  brothers,  probably  older  in  the 
family;  "a  family"  (writes  this  son)  "of  much  more  wealth  and  inherited  social 
position  than  fell  to  my  father's  lot.  Of  grandfather  Baldwin  I  do  not  recall 
even  the  given  name.  My  father  was  familiarly  called  '  the  old  Captain,'  earlier 
than  I  can  remember.  Where  he  got  the  title,  whether  in  Shays'  Rebellion  [1786-87, 
Worcester,  Springfield,  Petersham  J,  or  from  the  militia,  I  can  not  tell." 


18  ASA    TUBNEB. 

other  villages  and  the  surrounding  towns.  A  hotel  facing 
the  common  on  the  south  makes  a  quiet  summer  resort. 
In  1854  Dr.  George  Shattuck  gave  the  town  five  shares  in 
the  Boston  Athenaeum.  In  1858  an  agricultural  society 
was  incorporated,  and  the  late  David  Whitcomb,  of 
Worcester,  founded  the  Boynton  Library,  named  for  his 
old  partner  in  business  at  Templeton.  At  one  time  they 
had  sixty  peddlers  traveling  for  them.  The  handsome 
fire-proof  building  dates  from  1885.  Mr.  Whitcomb  gave 
$9,000,  to  which  the  town  added  12,000.  Mr.  Boynton 
gave  $100,000  to  the  Institute  of  Technology  at  Worces- 
ter. When  "Asa  Turner,  Jr.,"  was  born,  there  were  at  the 
Center  simply  a  rough,  wooden  school-house  and  the  first 
meeting-house  of  1753,  nearly  square,  and  then  recently 
painted  for  the  first  time.  In  this  a  town  committee 
"  dignified  the  seats  '  below  from  time  to  time,1  the  three 
galleries  being  filled  with  free  seats.  As  this  continued 
till  1797  perhaps  he  witnessed  like  archaic  formalities,  and 
received  impressions  of  a  certain  plain  and  unaffected 
dignity  of  the  old  New  England  style,  which  he  never  lost. 
The  edifice  had  doors  on  three  sides,  was  without  spire  or 
bell,  and  was  never  warmed  in  any  way  in  the  coldest  winter. 
The  Turner  farm  contained  about  a  hundred  and  sixty 
acres.  It  is  still  a  good  Worcester  County  farm,  though 
there  are  dense  woods  where  was  a  field  in  former  years. 
The  dwelling  looks  off  eastward  to  the  hills  and  homes  of 
Gardner,  a  good  farm-house  still,  though  shortened  fifteen 
feet  by  a  later  occupant  who  found  it  too  large.  A  tall 
evergreen  at  the  south  end  was  planted  by  the  sixth  son 
of  "  old  Captain"  Asa  in  his  youth. 

1  "  The  seats  of  most  dignity,  or  those  considered  most  eligible,  were  assigned  to 
the  largest  tax-payers,  and  so  on  graduated  throughout."  —  Cent.  Disc.  By  order  in 
town  meeting,  1765,  the  whole  congregation  waited  till  the  minister  had  not  only  left 
the  pulpit,  but  the  house,  and  then  moved  out  "  according  to  the  dignity  of  the  seats, 
one  seat  at  a  time."  This  continued  through  all  the  ministry  of  the  second  pastor 
till  the  early  years  of  this  century. 


Turner  Place,  Templeton,  Mass.    See  page  18. 


II. 

A  NEW   ENGLAND   BOY. 

In  his  autobiography,  Asa  Turner,  Jr.,  wrote :  "  My 
father  was  a  hard-working  man,  supporting  his  family  of 
eight  children  on  a  little  rock-bound  farm."  He  had  long 
been  familiar,  when  he  wrote,  with  much  larger  and  more 
fertile  Western  farms,  and  had,  as  a  village  pastor,  owned 
one  of  three  hundred  acres. 

The  "  eight "  children  were  :  —  (1)  Sylvia,  who  became 
Mrs.  Marshall  Alden ;  (2)  Dulcinah,  Mrs.  William  Whit- 
ney ;  (3)  Avery ;  (4)  Asa  ;  (5)  Nabby  (named  for  her 
mother),  Mrs.  Benjamin  Day ;  (6)  Jonathan  Baldwin ; 
(Betsey,  who  died  in  infancy) ;  (7)  Hannah  Fisher 
(named  for  her  grandmother),  Mrs.  Luke  Manning ;  (8) 
Edward  L. 

The  last  died  at  Lacon,  111. ;  Avery,  at  Quincy ;  Mrs. 
Manning  died  in  1887,  at  the  East ;  and  Mrs.  Whitney,  in 
1884 ;  Mrs.  Alden  and  Mrs.  Day,  years  before.  Jonathan 
Baldwin,  of  Jacksonville,  111.,  is  now  the  sole  survivor,  in 
his  eighty-fourth  year. 

On  the  rock-bound  farm  they  were  all  taught  habits  of 
industry,  prudence,  respect  for  right  and  rights,  the  keep- 
ing of  the  Sabbath,  integrity,  kindness,  conscientiousness, 
and  devotion.  It  is  said  of  the  town  planters :  "  They 
expected  to  work  hard;  they  and  their  families."1  Of 
two  of  these  eight  children  it  was  said  to  the  writer  in 
1886  by  their  surviving  sister:  "Asa  was  stronger  than 
Avery;   a  good  worker  on  the  farm,  and  enjoyed  work. 

1  Cent.  Disc.  p.  9. 


20  ASA   TURNER. 

I  have  heard  him  say  that  after  working  all  day  he  had 
driven  an  ox-team  loaded  with  lumber  to  Shrewsbury, 
twenty  miles  or  more,  by  night,  and  reached  there  by  the 
opening  of  business  in  the  morning.  Probably  he  had 
aided  in  cutting  and  hauling  to  mill  the  logs  from  which 
the  lumber  was  sawed.  This  training  gave  him  a  strong 
constitution  which  enabled  him  to  survive  his  neglect  of 
the  laws  of  health  while  in  college."  l  His  frame  was 
comparatively  large  and  strong.  Activity  was  constitu- 
tional, and  through  life  down  to  advanced  age  to  be 
doing  nothing  was  among  the  severest  of  trials.  One 
of  the  two  younger  brothers  was  more  vigorous  still. 
He  writes  me  of  their  father,  that  he  was  "  a  man  of  great 
strength  and  untiring  industry. 

"  Having,  as  he  thought,  somewhat  more  of  his  natural 
strength  and  endurance  than  his  other  boys,  he  early 
planned  to  keep  me  at  home  with  him,  by  giving  a  deed 
and  title  to  all  his  property  on  certain  conditions  before  I 
was  of  age,  and  let  Asa  go  from  home  to  school,  simply 
because  he  was  never  so  robust  as  I  was,  and  the  younger 
son,  Edward,  was  comparatively  feebler  still. 

"  Asa  always  liked  to  drive  horses  at  the  top  of  their 
speed ;  I  always  liked  to  see  them  walk  and  enjoy  them- 
selves. That  was  our  difference  in  temperament.  In 
every  game  of  mere  physical  strength  and  endurance 
he  was  aware,  though  the  older,  that  he  was  but  a  child 
in  my  hands,  while  I  was  then  equally  convinced  of  his 
intellectual  and  moral  superiority  and  longed  to  participate 
in  it,  but  saw  no  way  to  do  it. 

"  I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  my  father  strike  or 
in  any  way  punish  a  child,  scarcely  an  ox  or  a  horse ; 
though  I  have  seen  him  throw  an  offensive  man  over  the 
fence  and  into  the  street  in  utter  silence,  as  though  he 

IMS.  Sketch,  by  Rev.  Julius  A.  Reed. 


A  NEW  ENGLAND  BOY.  21 

had  done  nothing.  He  had  almost  no  schooling,  but  a 
splendid  education ;  for  I  never  knew  a  man  that  doubted 
either  his  word  or  his  honesty."  1 

There  will  be  some  readers  who  will  think  of  u  heredity  " 
here,  and  say,  u  In  our  Father  Turner  '  old  Captain  Asa ' 
re-appeared."  At  the  risk  of  anticipating  what  is  to  come 
concerning  their  spiritual  relations  let  us  hear  the  younger 
son  again  as  to  the  father :  — 

"  I  never  heard  my  father  make  any  appeal  to  us  on  the 
personal  ground  that  he  was  our  father,  '  Moses-fashion  ' ; 
it  was  always  on  the  higher  ground,  '  Christ-fashion ' : 
'  Jonathan,  do  you  think  that  is  right  ? '  That  was  a  most 
terrible  reproof  or  appeal  from  one  I  so  dearly  loved,  and 
therefore  so  deeply  feared  to  offend ;  for  the  tone  and 
manner  lodged  the  appeal  far  above  all  earthly  fathers, 
Christ-wise,  before  the  Father  of  all  in  heaven." 2 

The  second  Asa  was  ethically  the  son  of  his  father, 
though  in  Christian  experience  the  first  Asa  was  the  son 
of  the  second,  as  we  shall  see.  "  Asa  was  always  telling," 
said  Mrs.  Manning,  "  what  was  right  or  not."  It  became 
"a  habit  among  the  children"  to  defer  to  his  moral  judg- 
ment in  cases  they  could  not  decide.  "  What  Asa  said, 
was  right :  they  rather  went  by  him."  He  was  affectionate 
and  persuasive  among  them,  as  he  was  docile  and  obedi- 
ent to  his  parents,  and  diligent  in  all  things.  Any  one 
can  credit  this  who  knew  the  winning  patriarchal  grace 
that  came  to  him  in  after  years.  He  led  naturally  without 
effort  or  apparent  consciousness  of  it.  "  No  domineering ; 
always  the  same ;  no  wild  tricks  ;  no  trouble  with  him  for 
any  body."  He  went  with  the  rest  to  the  district  school, 
over  Mine  Hill  about  a  mile  (the  "  Old  Red  School-house  " 
is  gone),  to  East  Templeton  about  two  miles.    At  eighteen 


1  MS.  Letter  of  Prof.  J.  B.  Turner. 

2  Ibid. 


22  ASA    TUBNEB. 

he  began  to  do  military  duty  under  state  law,  whether 
eagerly  from  inherited  patriotism  or  reluctantly  from 
constitutional  love  of  peace,  we  are  not  told.  This 
sister  did  her  part  by  "  rubbing  the  buttons '  of  her 
brothers.  Some  other  traits  that  descended  to  him  may 
be  traced  in  what  is  said  of  his  paternal  grandmother  :  — 
"  She  was  the  strongest,  the  most  resolute,  prompt,  and 
fearless  woman  I  ever  saw,  and  I  do  not  believe  she  ever 
knew  what  fear  was.  After  my  mother  came  [to  the  home 
farm  as  a  bride],  some  Indians  began  to  talk  saucily  to 
my  mother,  supposing  she  was  alone.  Grandmother, 
overhearing  this,  rushed  into  the  room,  seized  the  great 
iron  fire-shovel,  and  drove  them  out-of-doors  in  a  hurry." 
Indians  always  were  good  judges  of  some  traits  of  charac- 
ter. "  If  she  thought  any  one  was  scheming  to  wrong 
any  one  of  us,  she  would  soon  be  '  the  lioness  in  front  of 
all  the  whelps,'  and  I  have  thought  that  she  did  more  to 
give  a  sort  of  natural  tone  and  character  to  our  family 
than  any  other  one  in  it.  Perhaps  she  exhibited  in  this 
way  a  spirit  of  unselfishness  and  mutual  self-sacrifice  for 
all  within  the  charmed  circle  and  of  justice  to  all  outside. 
.  .  .  Among  seven  or  eight  children  my  father  was  her 
pet.  She  could  not  conceive  that  he  could  do  any  thing 
wrong  or  unwise,  and  ever  held  herself  ready  to  sacrifice 
ease  or  pleasure,  or  life  itself,  in  defence  of  him  and  his. 
He,  as  well  as  all  the  rest  of  us,  intensely  reciprocated 
such  whole-souled  self-devotion.  She  lived,  I  think,  to 
her  ninety-sixth  year,  in  almost  uninterrupted  health ; 
and  then,  as  our  most  beloved  family  physician.  Dr. 
Osgood,  told  me,  •  She  did  not  die,  but  simply  expired,' 
laid  down  quietly  and  breathed  her  last,  without  a  pain 

or  struggle,  or  any  apparent  disease." *     "  Mrs. ,  one 

of  our  bright  women,  remembers  Hannah  T.  sitting  near 

1  MS.  Letter  of  Prof.  J.  B.  Turner. 


A  NEW  ENGLAND  BOY.  23 

the  pulpit  of  the  old  Unitarian  church,  straight  and 
perfectly  still,  with  a  bonnet  at  least  two  feet  long."  l 

Was  not  her  grandson  worthy  of  this  woman  of  the 
Revolution  ?  Did  his  intrepid  bearing  at  New  Haven  and 
at  Quincy  in  after  years  do  her  any  discredit  ?  We  know 
little  of  his  mother  or  his  grandfather,  who  could  not 
have  been  alien  in  character,  but  can  we  not  trace  to  his 
father  and  his  grandmother  most  of  what,  by  nature,  he 
was? 

His  brother  adds  :  "  He  inherited  more  the  temperament 
of  my  mother,  who  was  quick,  social,  impulsive ;  but 
persistent,  affectionate,  conscientious.  My  father  was 
slower  in  perception  and  motion  ;  less  social,  less  impul- 
sive ;  but  notoriously  wholly  immovable  in  all  his  con- 
victions of  right  and  duty  except  by  processes  of  reason." 
"  Though  most  of  his  life  in  a  Unitarian  church,  I  never 
heard  him  make  a  prayer  or  a  religious  remark  without 
implying  that  all  our  knowledge  of  God  comes  through 
Christ."  Here,  certainly,  the  influence  flowed  not  from 
father  to  son,  but  the  other  way.  Who  does  not  remember 
after  the  latter  became  "  Father  Turner  of  Iowa,"  his 
expressions  in  beginning  to  pray,  "  Divine  Redeemer," 
"  Merciful  Redeemer,"  "  Infinite  Redeemer  "  ?  We  learn 
to  exalt  what  we  deeply  feel  has  been  wrongfully 
depressed.  Of  their  unique  grandmother  his  brother 
writes  further :  — 

u  In  her  later  years  of  failing  strength  she  read  her 
Bible  incessantly,  particularly  the  prophets  and  Revela- 
tion. I  doubt  whether  she  ever  read  any  other  book  in 
her  life.  I  never  saw  any  other  in  her  hand.  She  caught 
the  news  of  the  day  from  conversation ;  she  never  seemed 
to  take  time  to  read  it.  She  cared  not  a  copper  for  any 
commentary  or  any  interpretation  of  the  Bible ;  she  caught 

1  Letter  of  Rev.  R.  Foster. 


24  ASA    TUBNEB. 

its  leading  spirit,  and  had  and  made  her  own  commentary 
as  she  went  along,  and  was  continually  applying  it  to  the 
ordinary  events  of  the  household  and  the  neighborhood. 
Whether  it  was  the  fall  of  an  empire  or  a  child  or  a 
tea-kettle,  if  the  passage  would  hit  it,  in  a  moral  sense, 
she  fired  it  off,  and  made  the  event  illustrate  the  passage. 
Sometimes  her  hits  would  be  first-rate  ;  always  character- 
istic and  interesting ;  but  she  would  hardly  have  made  a 
first-class  professor  of  modern  divinity." 

With  better  education  and  a  more-disciplined  judgment 
her  grandson  Asa  carried  through  life  much  of  this 
ingenuous  reverence  for  the  sufficiency  of  the  Bible, 
both  in  spiritual  and  temporal  things.  The  aptness  of 
his  simple-hearted  and  simple-fashioned  quotations  often 
had  the  effect  of  wit,  though  jocular  handling  of  Scripture 
offended  him. 

The  testimony  of  his  younger  brother  to  the  family 
spirit  in  the  atmosphere  of  which  they  grew  up  is 
interesting :  — 

"  As  we  scattered  abroad  in  the  world,  widening  our 
view  and  our  circles  of  moral  responsibility,  under  what- 
ever divergence  of  speculative  opinion,  that  same  home 
spirit  and  one  hope  went  with  us  all,  more  or  less,  and 
widened  with  our  widened  responsibilities.  But  it  was 
more  perfectly  developed,  fostered,  and  manifested  by  Asa, 
I  think,  than  by  any  of  the  rest  of  us,  and  surely  by  him 
visibly  diffused  over  a  wider  field.  And  now  these  dear 
friends,  young  and  old,  have  all  passed  s  over  the  river 
into  the  land  of  the  true  light  and  life,'  and  ■  I  alone  am 
left  to  tell  thee.'  I  thank  God  that  to  this  day  I  have  no 
knowledge  of  any  family  quarrel  or  discord  among  those 
that  have  come  out  of  the  i  old  home  '  down  to  the  latest 
generations.  We  were,  and  are  all,  one  with  the  old  earthly 
father,  with  one  hope  in  the  eternal  heavenly  Father."  1 

1  Letter  of  Jonathan  B.  Turner. 


A  NEW  ENGLAND  BOY.  25 

Before  we  leave  the  boyhood  of  Asa  Turner,  one  early 
fault  of  which  he  makes  record,  disclosing  his  father's 
ways  and  his  own,  should  be  mentioned.  His  sister,  Mrs. 
Manning,  once  gave  a  family  anecdote  that  should  go 
with  it.  He  came  home  from  school  one  day,  when  quite 
a  lad,  with  a  pack  of  bright  and  new  playing  cards.  A 
school-mate  had  persuaded  him  to  buy  them.  At  evening 
he  was  showing  them  to  the  other  children  around  the 
great  hearth,  and  his  father  asked  :  "  How  much  did  you 
pay  for  them,  Asa?" 

"  Twenty-five  cents." 

"  Will  you  take  the  same  for  them?" 

After  a  moment's  pause  :  "Well,  they  don't  look  to  me 
as  they  did  when  I  bought  them :  I  think  I  will."  The 
father  paid  over  the  quarter  of  a  dollar,  made  his  way 
through  the  children  to  the  fire-place,  opened  with  the 
long,  iron-handled  fire-shovel  a  place  among  the  coals 
down  to  the  hot  hearth-stones,  dropped  the  pack  of  cards 
carefully  into  the  opening,  and  covered  them  with  blazing 
embers.  Again  that  Yankee  fire-shovel  did  good  service, 
though  in  a  moral  conflict  instead  of  a  physical  one.  No 
remarks  were  made,  but  the  shrewd  and  filial  bov  never 
owned  another  pack. 

It  was  after  this  that  he  boarded  as  a  school-teacher 
with  the  grandparents  of  a  now  revered  foreign  mis- 
sionary (then  probably  at  Dartmouth  College),  and 
one  evening,  as  he  was  going  out,  the  grandfather  gave 
him  a  tract  on  playing  cards,  "  The  lot  is  cast  into  the 
lap."  u  The  writer  made  it,"  he  says,  u  a  rash  appeal  to 
God.    Not  a  word  was  said.    I  never  played  cards  again."  1 


1  Letter  to  Professor  Edson 


III. 

A   CHRISTIAN   CONVERT. 

The  autobiography  from  which  we  have  quoted  goes 
on  to  say  :  "  The  church  in  my  native  place  was  early  an 
Arminian  church,  but  became  Unitarian."  When  this 
happened,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine.  The  first  minister 
was  Rev.  David  Pond  (1755-59),  a  classmate  at  Harvard 
of  Governor  James  Bowdoin,  "born  1724,  probably  in 
Wrentham,  Mass."  In  that  town  was  born,  1791,  the  late 
Professor  Enoch  Pond,  d.d.,  of  Bangor  Seminary,  who 
studied  theology  with  Dr.  Nathaniel  Emmons,  of  Frank- 
lin (1773-1840),  both  well-known  Hopkinsian  theolo- 
gians. But  Rev.  David  Pond  seems  to  have  been  an  old 
Calvinist,  for  in  West  Medway,  where  he  lived  as  a 
teacher  after  1761,  "  he  was  very  strongly  opposed  to  what 
were  called  the  Hopkinsian  views ;  and  upon  the  settle- 
ment of  a  minister  in  West  Medway  who  advocated  these 
views,  he  withdrew  from  that  church  to  another,  and,  by 
the  action  he  took,  became  the  leader  in  a  dissension  in 
that  town  which  lasted  many  years." 1 

The  second  pastor  was  Rev.  Ebenezer  Sparhawk  (1761- 
1805),  also  a  Harvard  graduate.  Rev.  Joseph  Buckminster, 
of  Rutland,  grandfather  of  Rev.  Joseph  S.  Buckminster, 
of  Boston,2  preached  his  ordination  sermon:  the  "half- 
way covenant "  was  in  practice  from  1758  to  1791 ;  and 
Dr.  Watts'  Psalms  and  Hymns  were  exclusively  used 
till  1827,  —  Dr.  Greenwood's  (Unitarian)  Collection  being 

1  Cent.  Disc.  p.  22. 

*  Died  1812.     Dr.  Channing's  famous    sermon   at   Baltimore,   a    landmark   of 
Unitarian  beginnings,  was  preached  in  1819. 


A   CHBISTIAN  CONVEBT.  27 

adopted  in  1839  ;  but  none  of  these  are  decisive 
indications.  For  more  than  half  a  century,  that  is,  till  a 
third  minister  was  settled,  Rev.  Charles  Wellington  (1807), 
and  Asa  Turner  was  a  child  of  half  a  dozen  years  or 
more,  the  church  was  in  fellowship  with  Orthodox 
churches.  The  Covenant  was  not  revised  till  1822. 
After  the  early  fashion,  it  embodied  a  statement  of 
belief  as  a  basis  of  fellowship,  without  separate  articles, 
and  contained  these  doctrinal  points :  "  Our  insufficiency 
and  inability  to  do  that  which  is  good  and  acceptable  to 
God  on  account  of  our  sinfulness  and  proneness  to 
offend,"  etc. ;  "  Repentance  ; '  u  the  free  and  rich  grace 
of  God  which  calls  us ; "  "  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  God- 
man  and  only  Mediator  of  the  Covenant,  .  .  .  Prophet, 
Priest,  and  King " ;  "  the  Holy  Spirit  our  Sanetifler, 
Comforter,  and  Guide,  in  and  by  the  blessed  Word 
of  God,  written  by  His  inspiration."  The  Westminster 
Catechism  was  used  by  the  pastors  for  many  years.  Asa 
Turner  and  his  brothers  and  sisters  were  catechised  by 
Mr.  Wellington  at  the  school-house  Saturday  afternoons, 
notice  being  given  the  previous  Sunday,  and  school  exer- 
cises being  suspended.  After  awhile,  old  residents  say, 
"it  used  to  seem  to  the  children  that  there  were  some 
things  in  the  Catechism  there  were  not  in  the  sermons." 
One  aged  man  remembers  a  discourse  in  which  the  pastor 
"  tried  to  satisfy  the  congregation  that  Christ  was  the  Son 
of  God,  but  not  that  he  was  God."  The  autobiography 
says :  — 

"The  preaching  might  be  characterized  by — the  beauties 
of  virtue  and  the  deformities  of  vice.  The  great  facts  of 
the  gospel  —  sin,  the  atonement,  repentance,  faith,  and  the 
new  birth  —  were  ignored,  so  far  as  the  instructions  of  the 
pulpit  were  concerned.     Of  these  I  had  no  conception." 

In  the  opposite  quarter  of  the  town,  in  a  small  dwelling 


28  ASA   TUBNEB. 

on  a  small  farm  (smaller,  one  judges,  and  less  productive 
than  Captain  Turner's),1  William  Goodell  was  born,  seven 
years  and  four  months  before  his  townsman,  Asa  Turner, 
Jr.  Of  their  after  lives,  Dr.  E.  K.  Alden,  of  the  American 
Board,  said  at  its  meeting  at  Des  Moines,  October,  1886, 
referring  to  the  Apostles'  Commission  from  Christ :  — 

"In  the  fulfillment  of  this  commission,  William  Goodell 
and  Asa  Turner,  born  in  the  same  town  in  central  Massa- 
chusetts, went  forth,  the  one  toward  the  great  East  beyond 
the  sea,  the  other  toward  the  great  West  beyond  the  Lakes, 
and  lived  their  long  and  useful,  their  self-denying  and 
joyous  lives :  the  one  to  be  forever  remembered  in  the 
cities  and  towns  of  Turkey  as  a  foreign  missionary 
pioneer,  the  other  to  be  forever  remembered  over  these 
prairies  and  along  these  rivers  as  a  home  missionary 
pioneer,  —  both  now  rejoicing  in  fellowship  in  that  land 
to  which  they  come  from  the  East  and  the  West  and  sit 
down  together  in  the  kingdom  of  God." 

But  in  the  days  we  are  describing  the  religious  soil  of 
Templeton  did  not  clearly  promise  to  produce  two  such 
bright,  consummate  flowers  of  missionary  love  and  zeal. 
Goodell's  father  also  served  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution, 
but  was  a  more  devout  man  than  Turner's.  "  The  little 
farm  he  once  possessed,  if  it  were  not  all  plowed  over, 
was,  I  am  confident,  almost  every  foot  of  it  prayed  over;" 
so  wrote  his  son.2  When  Turner,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
six,  received  a  copy  of  Goodell's  Life,  as  a  Christmas 
present,  he  wrote :   "  I  had  an  aunt  living  not  far  from 

1 "  A  hundred  acres,"  says  his  son  ( Fort y  Years  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  p.  22). 
"  Nothing  now  remains  but  an  old  cellar-hole  "  (p.  7).  The  house  had  "  two  small 
rooms  and  a  garret,  floored  with  loose  and  rough  boards"  (p.  6).  Two  miles 
west,  in  Phillipston,  once  a  part  of  Templeton,  a  little  later  (1805)  was  born  Rev. 
Philander  O.  Powers,  —  converted  in  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Joseph  Chiekering,  —  a 
graduate  of  Amherst  and  Andover,  and  missionary  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  at  Broosa, 
Trebizond,  and  Antioch. 

2  Tract,  The  Missionary's  Father. 


A    CHRISTIAN  CONVERT.  29 

that  house,1  a  great  favorite  and  quite  wealthy  as  people 
were  estimated  then.  She  said  to  me,  '  Old  Mr.  Goodell 
would  rather  pray  than  work.'  She  meant  it  for  a 
reproach ;  but  it  was  an  honor.  I  can  but  think  how 
God  has  honored  that  name.  .  .  .  What  is  the  estate  of 
the  Rothschilds'  millions,  compared  with  such  an  estate 
as  old  Mr.  Goodell  left  his  family?"2  Dr.  William 
Goodell  wrote  of  his  father :  "  Intercourse  with  heaven, 
in  his  later  years  we  can  hardly  suppose,  was  ever  inter- 
rupted in  his  waking  hours  for  fifteen  minutes  at  a  time."  3 

"In  the  church,  there  was  never,  to  the  best  of  my 
remembrance,  more  than  one  individual,  and  not  always 
even  one,  who  could  fully  sympathize  with  him  in  his 
religious  views  and  feelings.  Those  great  evangelical 
doctrines  of  the  gospel,  which  his  own  minister  never 
preached,  and  his  own  church  never  adopted  into  her 
creed,  were  his  meat  and  drink.  *  The  raven,  though  an 
unclean  bird,  brought  food  to  Elijah^  was  a  common 
expression  of  his  on  returning  from  church  where  he 
had  been  able  to  pick  out  of  much  chaff  a  few  crumbs 
of  the  bread  of  life.  Prayer-meetings  were  unknown. 
.  .  .  Not  one  of  the  deacons,  although  all  of  them  were 
exemplary  men,  ever  opened  his  lips  in  public  to  offer 
prayer  or  give  a  word  of  exhortation !  .  .  .  After  Mr. 
Sparhawk's  death  it  seemed  much  easier  for  the  people 
to  slide  down  into  Unitarianism  than  to  rise  up  to  what 
was  considered  more  evangelical  and  orthodox.  His 
successor,  Rev.  Charles  Wellington  (afterward  d.d.), 
was  equally  exemplary  in  life,  but  still  more  lax  in 
doctrine."  4 

In  his  autobiography  Mr.  Turner  says :  "  I  had  an  aunt 
Sawyer  whom  I  loved  very  much.    Coming  from  the  school 

1  Forty  Years,  p.  7.  >  Tract. 

2  Letter  to  Prof.  H.  K.  Edson.  *  Forty  Years,  pp.  6, 16. 


30  ASA    TUBNEB. 

I  was  teaching  in  the  north-west  part  of  the  town,  the 
district  William  Goodell  lived  in  (this  was  before  1  knew 
any  thing  about  religion),  I  stopped  at  her  house.  She 
was  about  to  die,  and  in  distress  about  her  soul.  I  went 
up  to  town  [the  Center]  about  a  mile,  and  got  the  minister 
to  come  down.  She  told  him  what  a  sinner  she  was.  He 
told  her  what  a  respectable  woman  she  always  had  been ; 
but  it  only  aggravated  her  distress,  and  she  would  groan 
on  account  of  her  sins.  She  died  in  a  day  or  two,  but  I 
never  knew  if  she  found  comfort  before  she  died.  The 
scene  deeply  impressed  my  mind,  but  I  was  then  blinded." 

"  My  father,  mother,  and  grandmother  were  members  of 
the  church,  but  they  had  no  saving  knowledge  of  Christ." 
The  two  former  were  admitted  to  the  church  May  18, 
1813,  and  the  same  day  the  mother  and  six  children  were 
baptized,  two  of  their  sons,  Asa  and  Jonathan  B.,  among 
them. 

Writing  of  the  old  Goodell  place  the  former  says: 
"  The  first  school,  or  one  of  the  first,  I  kept  was  in  that 
district.  I  have  passed  the  old  one-story  house  many 
times.  His  (Dr.  W.  Goodell's)  grandmother,  Mrs.  J. 
Sawyer,  —  I  boarded  there,  —  was  then  very  old.  I 
wanted  to  know  how  one  so  old  felt  in  view  of  the 
change  that  must  so  soon  come.  I  inquired  of  her  her 
hopes  and  her  prospects.  She  answered  me,  i  Christ  is 
the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.'  I  knew  nothing  of 
religion,  had  no  conception  of  the  meaning  of  these 
words,  but  I  never  forgot.  No  words  have  dwelt  more 
on  my  mind." 

Is  there  an  index  here  to  after  experience  and  character  ? 
In  his  autobiography  he  records  :  — 

"  There  was  scarcely  a  family  in  Templeton  that 
observed  family  worship.  Early  in  life  it  troubled  me 
that  my  father  did  not  have  family  prayers.     My  mother 


A   CHRISTIAN  CONVERT.  31 

taught  me  in  my  childhood  to  pray.  I  always  observed 
the  form,  but  felt  that  it  was  lip-service.  I  was  naturally 
religious.  The  tolling  of  a  bell  for  a  death1  filled  me 
with  awe,  and  to  hear  the  clods  fall  on  a  coffin  in  the 
grave  made  me  shudder.  I  was  in  bondage  through  fear 
of  death.  As  I  grew  older  the  subject  engrossed  my 
mind.  Finally  this  thought  fastened  on  me  —  *  I  ought 
to  love  the  God  who  made  me  and  gives  me  every  thing 
I  have.'  I  used  to  pray  that  God  would  manifest  himself 
to  me  in  visible  form,  or  work  a  miracle  to  make  me  feel 
that  he  existed.  I  used  to  go  to  meeting  hoping  that 
something  would  be  said  to  awaken  me  to  my  spiritual 
condition ;  wondered  why  my  father  did  n't  seem  to  think 
more  about  religion,  and  that  professors  of  religion  did 
not  act  as  if  religion  were  true. 

"  I  finally  concluded  that  either  the  Bible  was  not  true, 
or  those  around  me  were  not  Christians.  Still  the  claim 
to  love  God  pressed.  I  felt  that  nothing  short  of  this 
would  satisfy  my  conscience.  How  to  do  it,  or  what  love 
was,  I  had  no  idea.  To  such  an  extent  did  my  obligations 
to  love  God  press  on  me,  and  the  consciousness  that  I  did 
not,  that  I  wished  I  could  change  places  with  any  animal, 
a  table,  or  a  chair,  or  any  thing  my  eye  rested  on,  that  I 
might  get  rid  of  my  obligations.  I  continued  to  pray, 
and  sought  means  to  impress  my  mind.  What  I  feared 
was  not  the  future,  but  my  cold,  dead  heart.2  One 
night  as  I  retired  I  engaged  in  prayer  as  usual.  Why 
or  how  I  can  not  tell,  but  my  heart  went  up  in  love  to 

1 A  primitive  New  England  fashion  afterward  carried  by  New  England  settlers 
to  the  Iowa  village  in  which  he  preached,  and  to  this  in  which  a  memoir  of  him  is 
written. 

2 "He  once  told  me  that  the  reading  of  Doddridge's  Rise  and  Progress  of 
Religion  in  the  Soul  brought  him  finally  to  the  light."  —  Sketch,  by  Rev.  Julius  A. 
Reed.  There  had  been  a  revival  in  the  town  in  1811,  when  he  was  twelve  years 
old,  which  brought  out  Goodell  as  a  Christian,  but  does  not  seem  to  have  affected 
him. 


32  ASA    TURNER. 

God.  I  felt  a  joy  I  never  felt  before  or  conceived  of. 
I  got  up  in  the  morning  feeling  that  I  was  a  new  creature, 
but  not  knowing  what  it  meant.  It  was  a  dark  night,  but 
when  my  heart  went  up  to  God  the  room  seemed  light  as 
day.  I  can  see  now  how  the  room  looked  at  that  time 
some  sixty  years  since.  Could  I  then  have  had  some 
instruction  from  Christian  friends,  what  a  blessing  it 
would  have  been  to  me ! 

"  A  little  while  after  I  read  in  Corinthians  that  Satan 
'transformed  himself  into  an  angel  of  light.'  I  thought 
that  was  exactly  my  case.  A  cloud  came  over  me,  and  I 
wandered  in  darkness  many  months;  I  don't  remember 
how  long.  Still  I  did  not  lose  my  interest  in  religion. 
It  was  my  chief  concern. 

"The  young  people  in  our  town  were  divided  into 
three  classes  —  according  to  age  —  to  attend  balls,  and  the 
minister  would  go  to  see  them  dance.  It  was  thought  as 
proper  as  to  attend  school.  But  from  that  time  I  had  no 
desire  to  join  in  any  of  their  amusements,  nor  did  I  feel 
the  need  of  it.  I  did  not  suppose  I  was  a  Christian,  but 
I  wished  to  act  in  all  things  so  as  not  to  dishonor  religion. 
I  felt  that  I  was  and  must  be  identified  with  it.  Mv  ideas 
of  religion  were  very  crude,  I  may  say  in  a  large  degree 
instinctive,  but  I  wished  to  be  numbered  with  religious 
people.     This  has  been  my  desire  all  my  life. 

"  When  about  nineteen  (I  do  not  remember  the  exact 
date),  I  united  with  the  church  in  my  native  place.  I 
went  to  the  minister,  Mr.  Wellington,  and  tried  to  tell 
him  how  I  felt,  the  exercises  of  my  mind.  But  he  did  n't 
seem  disposed  to  hear.  Did  n't  seem  in  the  least  disposed 
to  doubt  my  fitness  to  join  the  church." 

Dr.  Goodell  says  of  their  pastor :  "  Though  not  at  first 
an  avowed  Unitarian,  he  was  at  length  known  to  be  such. 
Like    his    predecessor    he   was    greatly   and   deservedly 


A    CHRISTIAN  CONVERT.  33 

respected  in  the  town,  and  much  beloved  by  all  who 
knew  hini."  Such  a  pastor  would  be  pretty  certain  to 
judge  such  a  young  man,  who  came  to  him  with  new  and 
unwonted  "  exercises  of  mind,"  by  his  moral  qualities  — 
in  this  case  of  the  best—  and  leave  Christian  experience 
as  a  remote  matter  to  be  settled,  as  the  saying  is,  "  between 
him  and  God."     The  young  man  adds  :  — 

"  I  recollect  it  was  a  happy  day  to  me.  I  was  teaching 
school  in  the  center  of  the  town,  and  boarded  with  a 
Unitarian  lawyer,  who  put  into  my  hands  Unitarian 
pamphlets  that  then  began  to  be  published.  I  read 
them,  but  they  gave  me  no  satisfaction,  and  filled  my 
mind  with  doubts  about  the  character  of  Christ." 


IV. 

UNITARIAN   AND   ORTHODOX   SEVENTY  YEARS   SINCE. 

It  is  quite  impossible  now,  though  it  may  not  always 
be  so,  to  realize  the  obstacles  through  which  young 
persons  in  Mr.  Turner's  environment  struggled  up  to 
evangelical  experience.  Possibly  when  attained  it  was  on 
this  account  the  more  sharply  denned.  The  influence  of 
the  ministers  of  that  day  over  the  faith  of  the  churches 
was  more  powerful  than  any  thing  known  to  us.  Of  the 
Templeton  church  it  is  said  that  it  "  at  first  disclaimed 
Unitarianism,  but  contended  for  liberty  of  opinion,  making 
the  liberty  of  more  importance  than  the  opinion."  In  a 
time  of  protest  against  Popish  error,  and  in  a  time  of 
protest  against  Protestant  truth,  this  state  of  things  would 
have  very  different  effects. 

Of  his  predecessor,  Mr.  Sparhawk,  settled  nearly  forty 
years  before  Mr.  Turner's  birth,  and  dying  when  he  was 
six  years  old,  Dr.  Wellington  said  in  1857  : 1  "  Though 
he  accepted  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  as  it  had  been 
held  by  the  majority  of  Christians,  he  dwelt  more  on  the 
mediatorial  character  and  offices  of  Christ,  as  a  Prophet, 
Priest,  and  King,  than  on  his  metaphysical  nature  and 
supreme,  undenied  divinity.  That  he  was  a  Calvinist 
would  be  an  inference  illegitimate  and  groundless." 

For  himself,  reviewing  the  loss  of  confidence  in  his 
teaching  which  led  to  a  Trinitarian  organization,  he 
appealed  to  his  hearers  to  testify  whether  he  had  "  ever 
ceased  to  preach  concerning  Christ    that  he  is   the  only 

1  Half -Century  Sermon. 


SEVENTY  YEABS  SINCE.  35 

Mediator  between  God  and  man,  the  Saviour  of  sinners." 
He  claimed  to  have  maintained  without  change  "  faith  in 
his  divine  mission,  reliance  on  him,  and  obedience  to  his 
authority  as  the  essential,  the  only  qualification  of  a 
Christian." 1 

A  practice  recently  revived  in  respect  to  the  Lord's 
Supper  seems  to  have  been  an  issue  between  those  of  the 
u  departure  "  of  that  day,  and  the  "  Orthodox."  He  adds  : 
"  And  concerning  those  who  have  wished  to  eat  at  the 
table  of  my  Master '  (he  does  not  say  on  confession  of 
Christ),  "my  inquiries  have  related  to  their  Christian 
qualifications,  their  disposition  to  take  the  cross,  to  follow, 
imitate,  and  obey  him,  and  not  to  the  peculiarities  of  their 
doctrinal  belief." 

Mr.  Turner  does  not  say  when  the  spiritual  crisis  which 
preceded  his  confessing  Christ  after  the  Orthodox  manner 
in  a  Unitarian  church  occurred.  The  church  records 
(1821)  say  that  he  was  connected  with  it  only  from 
April  1  to  December  2,  eight  months.  He  was  nineteen 
years  of  age  in  June,  1818.  The  winter  before  he  was 
teaching  in  the  next  town,  Winchendon.  The  publica- 
tions put  into  his  hands  were  the  fruit  of  anxiety  on  the 
part  of  Dr.  William  E.  Channing,  Rev.  Noah  Worcester, 
Rev.  S.  C.  Thacher,  and  others,  to  counteract  (1813-15) 
The  Panoplist,  which  was  urging  the  drawing  of  lines 
between  those  who  stood  upon  the  old  paths  and  those 
leaving  them.  The  pamphlets  read  by  Mr.  Turner  did 
not  undermine  his  faith.  Years  afterwards  in  Iowa,  when 
the  use  of  the  Westminster  Catechism  in  academy  teach- 
ing was  opposed,  he  took  the  ground  that,  though  imper- 

1 "  The  word  Unitarianism,  as  denoting  opposition  to  Trinitarianism,  undoubtedly 
expresses  the  character  of  a  considerable  part  of  the  ministers  ...  of  the  Com- 
monwealth."—Dr.  W.  E.  Channing.  He  describes  the  majority  of  Unitarians  as 
believing  that  "  Jesus  Christ  is  more  than  man."  This  included  Mr.  Sparhawk, 
Dr.  Wellington,  and  himself. 


36  ASA    TURNER. 

feet,  as  all  human  outlines  of  truth  are,  it  was  not  to  be 
rejected  for  what  it  teaches.  "If  you  can  not  tolerate 
that,"  he  said,  "you  can  not  have  me  for  your  minister." 

But  his  spirit  in  respect  to  the  great  theological  cleavage 
in  New  England  in  his  youth  would  not  by  this  be  fully 
exhibited.  He  well  knew  the  strong  dissent  of  "  old 
Mr.  Goodell '  from  Dr.  Wellington's  doctrines.  Perhaps 
to  him  also  the  Baptist  church  prayer-meetings  were 
"like  oases  in  the  desert,"  as  the  revered  foreign 
missionary  records  they  were  to  his  father's  family.  But 
dissension  was  far  from  him,  ever.  He  joined  the  people 
of  God  under  a  Unitarian  ministry,  after  hesitation,  it 
would  seem.  In  January,  1858,  he  sent  a  communication 
to  The  Congregational  Herald  of  Chicago,  which  is  here 
added  to  exhibit  more  of  his  habit  of  mind. 

ORTHODOXY  —  CALVINISM. 

Brother  Hammond,  —  The  discussion  of  the  present  time 
reminds  me  of  an  incident  that  took  place  some  twenty-five  years 
ago.  I  called  on  a  man  of  notoriously  intemperate  habits,  who 
neglected  and  abused  his  family  for  the  sake  of  gratifying  his 
appetite  for  strong  drink.  He  had  recently  buried  a  child.  I  in- 
quired why  he  had  carried  his  child  off  to  the  grave  without  any 
religious  service.  He  said  the  people  in  Quincy  were  so  wicked, 
that  having  any  religious  service  would  be  like  "  casting  pearls 
before  swine."  It  was  of  no  avail  I  urged  on  him  to  set  them  an 
example  of  duty  to  God.  I  then  invited  him  to  attend  worship 
with  us  on  the  Sabbath.  He  said  he  had  not  time  to  examine  me 
and  see  whether  I  was  orthodox.  The  poor  man  never  found  time. 
He  could  find  time  enough  to  test  the  orthodoxy  of  groceries,  but 
could  not  find  time  to  satisfy  himself  of  my  soundness  in  the  faith. 
The  nearest  he  ever  came  to  it,  I  saw  him  one  day  from  the  outside 
looking  into  the  window  while  I  was  preaching.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Seceder  church ;  his  orthodoxy  beyond  dispute  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  received  that  faith. 

But  what  does  the  orthodoxy  of  any  class  of  men  avail  while 
they  are  strangers  to  vital  godliness?    Calvinism  is  a  very  good 


SEVENTY  YEARS  SIXCE.  37 

thing,  provided  it  be  Calvinism  of  the  heart,  and  not  of  the  head 
alone.  I  have  seen  a  great  many  Calvinistic  heads  with  worse 
than  Arminian  hearts,  and  a  great  many  Arminian  heads  with 
Calvinistic  hearts.  I  must  believe  the  hearts  of  all  true 
Christians,  so  far  as  they  are  Christians,  are  essentially  alike. 
So  far  as  I  have  knowledge,  renewed  hearts  are  all  of  the  Calvin- 
istic mould.  Those  who  preach  against  Calvinism,  always  pray 
it,  if  their  hearts  are  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit.  But,  Mr. 
Editor,  I  have  a  difficulty  in  making  so  much  ado  about  Calvin,  or 
any  other  uninspired  man,  who  has  gone  to  his  rest.  What  matter 
is  it  what  they  believed  or  what  they  taught?  Call  no  man 
master. 

The  question  is  not  what  good  men  have  taught,  but  what  God 
teaches  in  his  holy  Word,  and  I  verily  believe  the  disposition  to 
make  so  much  of  the  fathers  is  a  kind  of  "  Mariolatry,"  putting 
poor  fallible  man  too  much  in  the  place  of  God.  I  am  so  much  a 
believer  in  the  depravity  of  man,  I  would  not  trust  a  living  or 
dead  one  out  of  sight  of  the  Bible  in  matters  of  faith.  I  am  not 
able  to  present  this  subject  in  its  true  light.  I  write  these  lines  in 
haste  in  hope  some  able  pen  will  take  it  up. 

Yours,  in  affection, 

ASA  TURNER. 

It  is  a  leading  object  in  this  volume  to  let  the  persons 
and  facts  mentioned  speak  for  themselves.  And  how 
distinct  liberalism  is  from  Christian  liberality,  and  what 
impression  it  made  in  youth  upon  the  author  of  the  above 
letter,  is  to  be  seen  in  a  few  incidents.  Two  or  three 
churches  successively  separated  from  the  First  Parish  in 
Templeton,  but  members  were  reluctantly  certified  as  in 
good  standing,  who  purposed  to  join  them.  In  1820, 
recommendations  to  a  Methodist  church  were  refused ;  in 
1832,  twenty-eight  were  dismissed  to  the  Trinitarian  Con- 
gregational church.  As  far  back  as  1782,  seventeen  had 
withdrawn  to  form  a  Baptist  church,  by  consent  with 
certificates.  It  is  said  that  the  Trinitarians  departing 
"  never  felt  they  had  occasion  to  complain  of  the  spirit  of 


38  ASA    TUB  NEB. 

their  former  pastor,"  l  but  an  aged  citizen,  then  young, 
remembers  that  after  the  Orthodox  organization,  when  his 
father  and  mother  were  dismissed  to  join  it,  one  Sunday, 
the  pastor  added  the  Scripture  warning :  "  Mark  them 
which  cause  divisions  among  you  ; '  and  when  the  new 
society  wished  to  hold  services  in  the  Town  House,  once 
the  First  Parish  church  building,  "  it  was  put  into  the 
warrant  for  town  meeting,  and  the  town  voted  No." 
The  town  was  predominantly  Unitarian,  or  at  least 
"  Liberal."  To  tell  all  the  facts  it  should  be  added  that 
the  First  Church  by  vote  had  "  fully  recognized  liberty 
of  conscience,"  and  given  "  its  free  consent,  as  a  permanent 
standing  rule,  to  all  such  withdrawals  for  conscience' 
sake." 

The  larger  part  of  those  organizing  the  Orthodox 
church,  of  which  Dr.  Lewis  Sabin  was  long  pastor,  entered 
into  covenant  on  profession.  Among  the  seventeen  dis- 
missed to  do  so  were  Captain  Asa  and  his  wife,  but  none 
of  their  children.  The  brave  old  grandmother,  Hannah 
Fisher,  at  the  age  of  ninety,  joined  at  the  second  com- 
munion. Asa  had  no  part  in  the  organization,  having 
two  years  before  gone  West,  but  some  who  did,  had 
received  Christian  impulses  from  his  student  labors  in  the 
town,  and  a  daughter  of  one  remembers  that  "  he  was  very 
influential  with  his  father  and  other  individuals  who  were 
reluctant  to  leave  the  old  organization.  It  was  quite 
difficult  to  get  enough  "  for  it.  His  father  and  one  brother 
were  leading  subscribers  to  the  new  house  of  worship 
across  the  green. 

Here  Mr.  Turner  preached  several  times,  but  it  was  not 
to  be  expected  that  he  would  officiate  in  the  old  church. 
Dr.  William  Goodell,  before  going  as  a  foreign  missionary, 
preached  his  last  sermon  there  in  1822  ;  but  this  was  ten 

1  Cent.  Disc. 


SEVENTY   YEABS  SINCE.  39 

years  before  the  Evangelical  society  was  born.  With  this, 
afterward,  he  said,  "  I  always  felt  at  home,  for  they  have 
full  sympathy  with  missions,  with  revivals,  and  those  doc- 
trines denominated  Evangelical."  But  when  some  of  the 
people  saw  him  in  Dr.  Wellington's  pulpit,  they  said  of 
his  future  hearers  (in  Palestine)  :  "  They  are  cannibals, 
and  they  '11  eat  him." 

It  is  to  be  suspected  they  knew  no  more  of  home  mis- 
sions, eight  years  later.  "  I  remember  a  good  old  man," 
says  Goodell  in  those  bright  Reminiscences  of  his  own 
boyhood,  from  which  we  have  drawn,  "  who,  like  my  own 
orthodox  parents,  believed  in  the  Assembly's  Catechism, 
together  with  the  reasons  annexed  to  the  whole  Ten 
Commandments,  and  who  usually  came  once  or  twice  a 
year  to  confer  with  them  on  the  prophecies  in  general, 
and  the  millennium  in  particular;  and  to  converse  also 
about  those  devoted  missionaries  who  had  recently  taken 
their  lives  in  their  hand,  and  gone  to  the  desolate  regions 
of  Ohio  to  preach  to  those  benighted  people."  His 
younger  fellow-townsman  was  to  go  far  beyond  Ohio,  to 
regions  more  "  desolate  "  and  people  more  "  benighted  "  as 
to  religion.  He  once  said  that  when  converted  he  felt  that 
his  field  of  labor  was  in  his  father's  family.  But  the 
blessing  he  brought  to  that  was  typical  of  what  he  was  to 
bring  to  many  beyond  the  Lakes  and  the  Great  River. 


V. 


A   TEACHER   AND   A   STUDENT. 

It  was  in  his  teens  that  he  began  to  teach  district 
schools  in  the  winter,  while  still  living  at  home  on  the 
farm  ;  and  there  are  aged  people  yet  surviving  who  speak 
with  affectionate  respect  of  their  early  instructor,  and 
remember  him  "  for  his  energy  and  goodness  of  heart." 
He  seems  to  have  taught  four  winters,  three  of  them  in 
districts  in  his  native  town.     His  brother  writes  :  — 

"  Asa  was  every-where  regarded  as  a  first-class  teacher. 
He  went  ahead  and  I  followed  him  as  well  as  I  could.  I 
do  not  remember  whether  I  immediately  succeeded  him  in 
each  school  or  not.  He  first  taught  in  Winchendon  South, 
and  I  followed  him  there.  I  well  remember  that  that 
year  I  was  fifteen  years  old,  for  it  was  much  talked  about 
because  I  was  so  young ;  but  the  trustees  said  I  was  the 
brother  of  Asa,  and  they  would  risk  it.  I  kept  that 
school  two  years,  and  then  followed  him  in  his  other 
schools,  for  the  sake  of  higher  wages.  This  continued 
till  the  trustees  of  the  rough  factory  village  schools,  which 
had  formed  the  habit  of  carrying  their  teachers  out  of  the 
school-house,  took  a  notion  to  employ  Gilman  Day,  a 
noted  wrestler  and  boxer,  and  myself  to  '  break  down  * 
their  rebellious  schools,  at  extra  wages ;  and  as  either  of 
us  would  have  died  ten  times  rather  than  to  have  been 
carried  out  of  a  school  once,  we  uniformly  succeeded. 
The  trustees  soon  learned  that  where  Day  or  I  was,  there 
was  '  heaven's  first  law,'  whether  any  of  the  rest  of  them 
were  there  or  not.     Asa  neither  led  nor  preceded  us  in 


A    TEACHEB  AND  A   STUDENT.  41 

these  rough-and-tumble  games.  All  this  was  so  foreign  to 
his  whole  nature  and  habit,  that  I  don't  think  he  could 
have  been  hired  to  undertake  it.  I  look  upon  it  now,  as  I 
do  upon  our  Civil  War,  as  a  thing  necessitated  by  previous 
blunders,  but  not  desired  or  desirable." 

When  the  elder  brother  got  round  to  the  Center,  he 
had  eighty-five  scholars,  and  "  controlled  them  by  a  look." 
"There  never  had  been  such  order,"  though  former 
teachers  had  flogged  the  boys  severely.  An  aged  citizen, 
now  nearly  eighty,  Mr.  T.  B.  Hawks,  who  was  a  pupil, 
remembers  being  trotted  gently  on  his  foot  as  a  cure  for 
disquietude.  He  says  himself :  "  I  opened  my  school 
with  reading  the  Bible  and  prayer,  which  I  always  did 
after  my  change  of  mind,  and  never  had  any  trouble  with 
parents  or  pupils  on  this  subject."  An  incident  related 
by  others  agrees  with  this.  A  school  meeting  was  called 
when  it  was  found  that  he  had  religious  exercises.  A 
committee  was  sent  to  see  him,  the  chairman  of  which 
said:  "  Mr.  Turner,  we  hire  a  minister  to  do  our  praying, 
and  hired  you  to  teach  our  children."  "  Well,  gentlemen," 
was  the  young  man's  quiet  answer,  u  whether  it  be  right 
in  the  sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto  you  more  than  unto 
God,  judge  ye."  He  had  no  other  answer,  and  they  had 
no  further  objurgation. 

His  moral  power  as  a  Christian  convert  was  a  blessing 
at  home.  The  lack  of  family  worship  still  troubled  him. 
He  says :  "  I  went  home  one  Saturday  night  while  I  was 
teaching  in  Winchendon.  All  of  the  family  were  abed 
except  father  and  mother.  I  told  him  how  I  felt,  and 
asked  him  to  pray  with  me.  I  asked  him  if  I  might  lead 
in  prayer.  I  did.  The  next  morning  (Sabbath)  he  called 
the  family  together  after  breakfast,  and  read  a  portion  of 
the  Bible  and  offered  prayer,  which  he  continued  to  do  as 
long  as  he  could  hear.  The  latter  part  of  his  life  he  was 
entirely  deaf."     His  brother  adds  :  — 


42  ASA   TUBNEB. 

"After  Asa  left  to  teach  and  to  study,  he  soon  fell 
under  influences  which  brought  Christ  and  His  words 
and  salvation  more  distinctly  and  urgently  before  him 
than  they  had  been  presented  to  any  of  us.  And  whenever 
he  came  home,  he  used  to  talk  with  us  all,  and  hold  neigh- 
borhood meetings  at  our  house.  As  he  had  become  far 
better  informed  on  that  subject  than  we  were,  and  was 
evidently  thoroughly  sincere,  honest,  and  earnest,  we  all 
of  us,  from  the  old  grandmother  (then  about  ninety  years 
old)  down  to  the  youngest,  came  to  sympathize  more 
or  less  with  him  and  his  views."  The  autobiography 
relates : — 

"  I  remained  with  my  father  till  I  was  twenty-two  years 
old,  when  in  the  fall  of  1821  my  father  consented  to  let 
me  go  to  Amherst  Academy  to  fit  for  college.  As  I  came 
home  from  time  to  time,  he  opened  his  house,  and  I  would 
talk  to  the  people.  They  came  in  from  that  part  of  the 
town  and  filled  the  house.  Curiosity,  I  suppose,  led  them 
at  first;  but  they  continued  to  do  it  whenever  I  was  at 
home  until  I  was  through  my  college  course." 

There  were  those  in  the  town  who  called  him  "  The 
Little  Priest ;  "  partly,  doubtless,  because  this  was  unusual 
then  for  a  young  New  England  layman ;  partly  because  he 
urged  upon  them  truths  to  which  they  were  unaccustomed 
and  which  have  always  been  unwelcome.  In  these  years 
John  Todd  was  waging  his  notable  warfare  in  their  behalf 
at  Groton,  and  the  poet  Longfellow  was  noting  in  his 
journal  a  "  tremendous  sermon "  of  Mr.  Todd's  at  Cam- 
bridge, like  what  he  used  to  hear  when  a  student  at 
Brunswick.  For  such  a  conflict,  Mr.  Turner  would  have 
been  as  indisposed  as  for  a  round  with  the  school-boys 
of  the  "rough  factory  village."  All  his  life  afterward 
supremely  interested  in  a  converting  evangelism,  he  began 
now  to  sow  seeds  for  the  future  at  once. 


A   TEACHEB  AND  A   STUDENT.  43 

"  While  I  was  in  Amherst,  my  mother  was  taken  sick. 
As  she  related  the  matter  to  me  it  was  soul-sickness,  and 
not  of  the  body.  The  doctor  could  do  her  no  good.  She 
sent  for  the  minister.  He  did  not  understand  her  case. 
There  was  an  old  Mr.  Childs  in  town,  who  had  been  to  see 
a  daughter  in  Western  [now  Warren],  about  twenty  miles 
south-west  of  Temple  ton.  There  was  a  revival  there,  and 
he  was  converted.  My  mother  sent  for  him.  He  under- 
stood her  case,  directed  her  to  the  Saviour,  and  she  found 
peace  of  soul  and  health  of  body.  .  .  .  While  at  Amherst 
I  united  with  Mr.  Perkins's  church  on  the  East  Street. 
[Dismissed  from  Templeton,  December  2,  1821.]  There 
was  a  fine  band  of  religious  students  in  the  academy ; 
quite  a  revival  during  my  attendance.  No  preaching  then 
in  town ;  we  used  to  go  out  to  Pelham  and  attend  meet- 
ings." Dr.  Tyler  says  of  the  prayer-meeting  in  town 
(probably  the  only  one),  that  at  one  time  it  "  was  a  school 
as  well  as  a  place  of  devotion."  When  Daniel  A.  Clark 
was  pastor,  it  must  have  been. 

This  academy  was  the  nearest  classical  school  to  which 
this  young  Christian  could  go  with  the  new  hunger  for  an 
education  begotten  by  Christian  experience.  Either  side 
of  the  Wachusett  ridge  was  still  a  wilderness.  Amherst 
is  half-way  from  Worcester  to  Pittsfield,  and  about  equi- 
distant from  it  are  Cambridge,  Providence,  and  New 
Haven.  Williston  Seminary  as  yet  was  not.  Amherst 
College  was  opened  the  year  Turner  entered  the  academy. 
Phillips  at  Andover  was  depressed,  and  Amherst  Academy 
drew  students  from  all  parts  of  New  England.  The  town 
was  retired.  Not  till  three  years  later  did  mail  stages 
from  Boston  to  Albany  pass  through  four  times  a  week. 
Tuition  was  free  to  candidates  for  the  ministry,  and  board 
a  dollar  a  week.  The  people  did  much  for  students. 
Noah  Webster  was  a  trustee  of  both  institutions ;  Gerard 


44  ASA    TUBNEB. 

Hallock,  David  Greene,  and  E.  S.  Snell  teachers  in  the 
academy,  which  was  the  mother  of  the  college.  It  sent 
out  one  year  about  thirty  senior  students.  Its  influence 
was  wide.  Girls  were  admitted  —  ninety-two  in  the  fall 
of  1821.  "  It  was  the  Williston  Seminary  and  the  Mount 
Holyoke  of  that  day  united."  The  young  man  from 
Templeton  acquired  thus  early  a  prejudice  in  favor  of  the 
joint  education  under  Christian  control  which  he  long 
after  favored  earnestly  at  Denmark  and  at  Grinnell. 

One  of  the  little  noticed  lady  students  is  thus  described 
by  her  lady  principal :  "  Then  uncultivated  in  mind  and 
manners,  of  large  physique,  twenty-three  or  twenty-four 
years  of  age,  and  receiving  her  first  impulse  in  education." 
She  was  a  year  or  more  older  than  Mr.  Turner,  and  re- 
mained but  one  term.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  if 
they  recited  together  ;  probably  not,  as  she  "  commenced 
with  grammar  and  geography,  and  advanced  to  rhetoric 
and  logic,"  —  studies  which  he  was  to  take  years  after  at 
Yale.  This  was  Mary  Lyon,  the  famous  founder  of  Mount 
Holyoke  Seminary. 


VI. 

AT  YALE  COLLEGE.  —  REBELLION.  —  REVIVALS. 

One  at  all  acquainted  with  a  young  man  of  such 
New  England  antecedents  and  experience  as  have  been 
described  can  pretty  correctly  foresee  what  a  college 
career  would  be  to  him.  It  would  be  in  good  part  labor 
for  self-support;  in  good  part  conscience  as  to  college 
ways ;  in  good  part  Christian  effort  for  others.  Mr. 
Turner's  very  peculiar  experiences  as  a  Yale  student 
in  arts  and  theology  diversified  this  general  outline.  He 
continues  in  his  autobiography :  — 

"In the  fall  of  1823  I  entered  Yale  College.  I  was  an 
entire  stranger  and  had  never  seen  any  one  in  college. 
My  father  carried  me  there  in  his  buggy,  gave  me  a  bed 
and  bedding  and  ten  dollars.  This  was  the  amount  of 
his  contribution  to  my  education.  I  had  earned  something 
winters  teaching  school  before  I  commenced  study,  and 
after  I  was  twenty-one.  Before  that  I  gave  my  earnings 
to  my  father.  I  was  thrown  on  my  own  resources.  The 
college  woodyard  opened  the  way  to  earn  a  little,  by 
sawing  wood.  [He  often  did  it  with  perspiration  dripping 
from  his  elbows.]  I  boarded  myself  and  ate  at  4  the 
second  table,'  which  cost  from  thirty-seven  and  a  half 
to  seventy-five  cents  a  week.  My  fare  was  not  extrava- 
gant. As  I  went  to  prayers  at  night  I  would  put  a  little 
skillet  in  the  fire  with  a  pint  of  water  and  two  table- 
spoonfuls  of  Indian  meal,  leaving  it  to  boil  while  I 
attended  devotions.  After  my  return  I  salted  it  and 
broke  in  crackers,  and  this  would  make  a  meal.     In  my 


46  ASA    TUBNEB. 

second  year  I  taught  school  in  old  Guilford  and  boarded 
with  Colonel  Chittenden,  with  whom  I  formed  an  intimate 
friendship  which  lasted  through  his  life.  He  followed  me 
to  Quincy  in  the  early  part  of  my  ministry,  and  was  one 
of  the  original  members  of  the  church  in  Mendon.  He 
was  a  good  man." 

Let  another  here  photograph  this  self-denying  Christian 
student  as  a  senior  crossing  the  college  grounds :  u  His 
appearance  clearly  showed  the  man.  You  could  see  that 
he  was  country-bred ;  his  tailor  was  not  of  the  city  his 
stockings  of  '  sheep's  gray '  proved  him  a  farmer's  boy 
and  that  he  had  a  mother  or  sister  who  was  interested  in 
his  welfare.  You  could  see  that  he  was  in  earnest ;  that 
he  was  in  college  for  a  purpose:  resolute,  self-reliant, 
economical,  and  hard-working." 

"  My  college  course,"  says  the  autobiographer,  "  which 
I  enjoyed  in  some  respects,  was  a  great  trial  in  another. 
Accustomed  to  hard  labor  till  twenty-two  years  old,  I  did 
not  know  how  to  take  care  of  my  health.  Dyspeptic 
habits  fastened  upon  me,  and  study  a  great  part  of  the 
time  was  a  burden  and  a  task.  By  great  effort  I  was  able 
to  maintain  a  tolerable  standing  as  a  scholar,  in  about  the 
first  third  of  the  class,  as  near  as  I  can  remember.  My 
religious  privileges  I  enjoyed.  The  college  kept  Saturday 
night  as  Sabbath.  I  had  been  accustomed  to  keep  Sunday 
night,  and  mj  conscience  would  not  allow  me  to  study 
that  night.  This  gave  me  two  nights  in  the  week  for  reli- 
gious privileges,  which  I  always  observed. 

"  There  was  a  revival  in  college  almost  every  year. 
President  Day  and  all  the  professors  took  a  deep  interest 
in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  students.  This  led  me  to 
associate  with  the  most  religious  part  of  the  students,  and 
to  labor  with  them  for  the  conversion  of  others." 

He    was   "  received    to    communion "   by   the    college 


UNIVERSITY  J 
AT   TALE   Qh'hLEOS^^  47 

church,  April,  1824,  and,  being  afterwards  dismissed 
from  Amherst,  became  a  member  in  full,  February, 
1828,  when  a  theological  student,  and  served  as  a 
deacon,  with  his  class-mates  Hale  and  Baldwin. 

There  is  unbroken  testimony  from  his  fellow-students 
to  "  his  faithful  Christian  character  and  the  loving  esteem 
in  which  he  was  held  by  all."  His  class-mate,  Rev.  Will- 
iam Whittlesey,  notes  the  modesty  that  marked  his 
religious  character.  Rev.  Tryon  Edwards,  D.D.,  of  the 
succeeding  college  class,  says  of  the  great  revival  of 
1826-27,  which  brought,  it  is  thought,  more  than  half 
of  the  juniors  into  the  college  church :  "  No  man  was 
more  earnest  and  wisely  faithful  in  leading  students  to 
Christ.  Few,  if  any,  of  the  juniors  were  not  more  or  less 
influenced  by  him.  No  man  had  more  influence  or  did 
more  good.  In  our  class  ('28)  thirty  out  of  eighty-one 
became  ministers.  As  they  were  before  the  revival,  I  can 
not  count  up  more  than  nine  or  ten  who  were  professing 
Christians ;  but  now,  as  I  look  over  the  catalogue,  I  count 
forty-nine  decided  and  faithful  Christian  men,  a  large  part 
of  whom  were  converted  in  that  revival,  in  which  no  one 
was  more  active  than  Asa  Turner.  Some  of  the  most 
influential  of  these  were  then  converted.  Quite  a  number 
in  the  classes  of  '27  and  '29  were  also  led  to  the  Saviour." 
Twenty-five  out  of  eighty  in  the  former  class  became  min- 
isters.    His  brother  says  of  Mr.  Turner's  college  days :  — 

"  He  was  so  miserably  afflicted  with  dyspepsia  much  of 
the  time  that  he  could  not  fully  profit  by  his  course  of 
study.  But  sick  or  well,  I  believe  that  he  seldom,  either 
there  or  at  home,  omitted  any  feasible  opportunity  of 
getting  a  few  friends  to  meet  together,  and  to  talk  to 
them  about  'the  Father,'  and  Christ  and  his  life  and 
words.  We  thought  then  that  such  persistence  in  these 
gratuitous  meetings  was  a  loss  to  him.     But  I  have  since 


48  ASA   TUBNEB. 

thought  that  these  experiences  were  the  best  parts  of  his 
course,  and  did  more  than  all  else  to  make  him  what  he 
was,  more  adroit  at  handling  men  than  theories  about 
men." 

A  class-mate  says  of  him  :  "  He  was  a  true  man,  a  hard 
worker  for  the  benefit  of  humanity,  hand  in  hand  with 
Albert  Hale.  They  might  well  be  ranked  as  not  only 
the  evangelists  of  Yale,  but  also  of  its  surroundings  for 
miles." 1 

A  member  of  the  next  class,  much  younger,  and  not 
then  interested  in  religion,  recollects  him  "as  a  devout, 
earnest  Christian,  commanding  the  respect  and  esteem  of 
all  by  his  gentle,  judicious  ways,  his  consistent  Christian 
living,  and  steadfast  earnestness."  2 

Another  class-mate  writes  of  college  days :  3  "  Dear  Asa 
Turner !  I  remember  him  well.  You  ask  me  about  his 
Christian  character  in  college.  He  was  eminently  a  godly 
man.  No  one  questioned  Turner's  piety.  Indeed,  both 
he  and  his  room-mate,  Hale,  were  universally  regarded  as 
the  two  most  consistent  and  devout  Christians  in  college. 
Their  memory  is  fragrant.  They  were  godly  men  of  no 
ordinary  stamp.  Turner  has  passed  to  his  reward,  and  if 
his  room-mate  still  lingers  behind,  the  time  can  not  be  far 
distant  when  they  will  meet  before  the  Lamb,  and  i  walk 
in  white,'  for  they  are  worthy." 

Mr.  Reed,  of  the  class  two  years  later,  supplies  an 
example  of  what  was  going  on  at  Yale  in  those  days: 
"  There  was  a  student  in  the  class  below  his  [and  above 
Mr.  Reed's]  who,  I  recollect,  had  the  reputation  of  being 
a  skeptic.  He  had  a  brilliant  mind,  a  genial  disposition, 
winning  without  effort  the  good-will  of  his  associates,  and 

1  Prof.  Forrest  Shepherd,  Letter. 

2  Prof.  H.  N.  Day. 

3  Rev.  J.  H.  Towne,  d.d. 


AT   YALE   COLLEGE.  49 

was  an  excellent  scholar.  He  was  fond  of  fun  and  jokes, 
and  reports  of  some  of  his  college  pranks  have  come  down 
to  the  present  time.  He  intended  to  study  law  and  make 
his  mark  as  a  politician.  On  the  eve  of  his  graduation,  he 
said,  to  Mr.  Turner,  I  think,  that  he  had  never  con- 
sidered the  claims  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  that  it 
was  too  important  to  be  passed  by  without  thought.  He 
was  going  to  examine  the  subject,  and  if  he  found  Chris- 
tianity true,  he  would  be  a  Christian ;  if  he  found  it  was 
not,  he  would  lay  the  subject  aside  and  trouble  himself  no 
more  about  it.  He  was  not  long  in  finding  it  true.  Then 
the  question  was,  Will  I  be  a  Christian?  The  answer 
was  not  so  easy  as  he  supposed.  The  struggle  was  severe, 
but  he  yielded  to  the  claims  of  his  Saviour.  I  recollect 
well  his  appearance  when,  alone,  he  made  a  public  pro- 
fession in  the  college  chapel.  His  countenance  told  of 
sweet  submission  and  quiet  determination.  He  died  a 
few  years  later  a  missionary,  on  board  ship  in  the  harbor 
of  Whampoa,  China.  Mr.  Turner  was  one  of  his  advisers 
in  those  critical  days." 

The  autobiography  continues  :  "  In  my  sophomore  year 
the  famous  rebellion  of  the  class  in  *  Conic  Sections ' 
occurred.  The  class  had  all  signed  their  matriculation 
papers,  promising  to  obey  the  laws  of  college.  It  was 
warm  weather,  and  they  thought  the  lessons  too  hard. 
They  met  together  several  times  to  discuss  the  question 
of  4  flunking  '  (refusing  to  recite).  Finally,  they  took  a 
vote,  pledging  themselves  to  each  other  not  to  recite. 
The  class  numbered  about  one  hundred,  and  all  but  six 
bound  themselves  by  a  rising  vote.  William  Adams 
[then  of  Andover,  Mass.,  afterwards  so  long  of  New 
York]  was  in  the  chair.  After  the  rising  vote,  he  called 
upon  those  opposed.  The  other  five  attempted  to  rise, 
but  the  rest  of  the  class  hissed  and  scraped  so  that  they 


50  ASA   TUBNEB. 

could  not  stand  up.  I  was  in  one  of  the  highest  seats, 
but  I  stood  erect  and  calm  during  three  successive  hissings 
and  scrapings.1  When  they  got  through,  I  told  them 
that  we  came  there  not  to  make  laws,  but  to  obey  them. 
Each  of  us  had  bound  himself  on  his  honor  to  obey  the 
laws.  The  next  day  all  of  the  class  but  six  '  flunked.' 
Then  was  the  time  for  missionary  labor!  The  Faculty 
suspended  recitations,  and  called  on  those  in  rebellion  to 
return  and  confess  their  wrong.  There  were  many  pro- 
fessors of  religion  among  them,  but  they  would  not  hear 
any  thing  from  any  one  but  the  minority.  They  would 
listen  to  them.  About  forty  were  rusticated.  No  act  in 
my  college  life  gave  me  so  much  influence.  Most  of  them 
come  back  the  next  term  and  made  confession  and  were 
restored." 

In  the  life  and  letters  of  Dr.  Bushnell,  who  was  active 
in  the  opposition,  it  is  alleged  that  "  the  class  had  per- 
mission, in  the  regular  course  of  study,  to  omit  the  corol- 
laries altogether,"  and,  being  called  upon,  notwithstanding, 
to  recite  them  on  examination  or  review,  felt  that  "  the 
Faculty,  or  certain  members  of  it,  had  not  kept  faith  with 
them."  It  is  easy  for  any  one  much  versed  in  college 
affairs  to  suspect  a  misunderstanding  here  between  tutor 
and  students  in  part,  at  least,  the  whole  Faculty,  as  usual, 
sustaining  the  individual  officers.  It  favors  this  view 
that  one  of  the  six  referred  to  by  Mr.  Turner,  on  being 

1  When  this  was  read  on  his  eightieth  birthday  to  his  children,  grandchildren, 
and  a  few  friends,  one  of  these  last,  who  was  in  college  with  him,  asked:  "  How 
did  you  feel,  Father  Turner,  toward  those  who  hissed  and  scraped,  as  you  stood 
there?  "  His  eye  brightened,  and  the  forefinger  with  which  he  usually  gestured 
came  up.  "  I  did  n't  care  any  more  for  them  than  for  so  mauy  sheep."  There  was 
no  contempt  in  his  tones,  nothing  but  indifference  to  any  thing  save  what  he 
deemed  manly  and  dutiful.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  was  influenced  from  home ; 
he  was  in  his  twenty-sixth  year;  and  after  incidents  show  that  he  was  himself 
throughout,  as  courageous  as  docile.  "  As  they  (his  class)  were  leaving  the  hall, 
a  class-mate,  who  afterwards  became  a  doctor  of  divinity,  said  to  him :  •  I  do  not 
like  your  sentiments,  but  I  admire  your  courage.'  Asa  Turner  feared  the  face  of 
man  as  little  as  did  John  Knox."  —  Sketch,  by  Rev.  Julius  A.  Reed. 


AT   YALE   COLLEGE.  51 

praised  years  later  for  loyalty,  replied  (so  one  who  heard 
him  informed  me),  "  I  did  not  have  the  same  excuse  as  the 
others,  for  I  heard  the  tutor  say  plainly  that  we  would  omit 
the  corollaries  on  going  over  it  the  first  time."  He  there- 
fore went  loyally  to  one  recitation  in  his  division  alone. 
Mr.  Turner  felt  that  government  was  at  stake.  His 
matriculation  pledge  bound  him  to  "  faithfully  avoid  .  .  . 
disrespectful  conduct  to  the  Faculty,  and  all  combinations 
to  resist  their  authority."  His  truth  of  character  is  as 
clear  as  were  his  views.  From  other  sources  it  is  learned 
that  he  not  only  rose  in  manly  standing  at  this  crisis,  but 
in  the  succeeding  revivals  was  sought  more  than  others 
for  Christian  advice  by  students  inquiring  on  religious 
subjects. 

Prof.  Forrest  Shepherd  supplies  here  a  fact  or  two: 
"It  proved  finally  that  the  health  of  Professor  Dutton 
did  not  enable  him  to  complete  his  explanations,  which 
left  the  class  to  wander  in  the  dark."  Mr.  Reed  adds : 
"Another  rebellion  was  near  occurring  in  my  class  two 
years  later.  The  work  was  unfinished ;  its  author  died 
before  a  second  edition  could  be  published,  and  he  was 
far  gone  with  consumption  when  he  prepared  the  first." 
Professor  Shepherd  had  entered  in  1826  as  senior,  and 
while  a  sophomore  at  Dartmouth  prevented  a  similar 
rebellion  by  preparing  cones  and  pasting  diagrams  in  the 
text-books  thrown  away  in  former  ones. 

That  a  student's  Christian  character  should  shine  more 
brightly  after  so  severe  a  test  of  principle  was  quite 
possible  half  a  century  ago,  when  the  old-time  reverence 
for  legitimate  authority  had  not  been  frayed  out,  and 
theological  teaching  and  revival  work  alike  rested  on 
moral  government  A  Yale  professor  who  took  his  chair 
in  1825,  Mr.  Turner's  junior  year,  wrote  him  nineteen 
years  later,  on  occasion  of  his  sending  a  son  to  Yale  :  — 


J 


52  ASA   TUBNEB. 

"You  allude,  my  dear  sir,  with  too  much  modesty  to 
your  standing  in  college.  I  remember  you  were  afflicted 
with  dyspepsia  ;  we  were  fellow-sufferers.  But  I  beg  you 
to  tell  your  son  from  me  that  his  father  received  the 
highest  honor  in  his  class,  being  on  my  first  return  to 
the  institution  pointed  out  to  me  as  a  man  who  dared  to  do 
right  under  the  strongest  temptations  and  bitter  persecu- 
tions." 1 

Indeed,  the  moral  power  of  his  later  college  life  had 
this  for  its  chief  foundation.  "  He  was  most  highly 
regarded  by  all,  the  wild  as  well  as  serious  students, 
as  one  who  was  always  consistent,  and  whose  daily  life 
was  a  constant  manifestation  of  the  true  spirit  of  Christ, 
always  cheerful,  always  serious,  always  a  living  example 
of  what  a  Christian  should  be.  He  was  as  well  known 
and  esteemed  for  his  kind  and  loving  temper,  his  good 
common-sense,  his  humble  spirit,  and  his  practical  wisdom, 
as  for  his  spirituality.  Many  then  in  college  will  always 
and  most  gratefully  regard  him  as  perhaps  the  means, 
more   than    any   other,    of  their   conversion." 2 

Among  those  who  graduated  with  him  in  1827  were 
the  Reverend  Doctors  William  Adams,  Theron  Baldwin, 
William  H.  Bidwell,  Horace  Bushnell,  Robert  A.  Hallam, 
Robert  McEwen,  Joseph  H.  Towne,  and  Cortlandt  Van 
Rensslaer,  with  Presidents  Henry  Durant  and  William 
W.  Hudson ;  Professors  Sidney  L.  Johnson,  Ephraim 
Symonds,  and  Forrest  Shepherd;  Judges  Henry  P. 
Edwards,  George  Gould,  Henry  Hogeboom,  and  William 
H.  Welch,  and  the  poet  Willis.  Of  twenty-five  who 
became  ministers,  five  were  with  him  afterwards  at  the 
West,  Dr.  Baldwin,  the  Reverends  Mason  Grosvenor, 
Albert   Hale,  William   Kirby,  and   William   Whittlesey. 

1  Prof.  Denison  Olmsted,  July  10, 1854. 

2  Rev.  F.  Edwards,  d.d. 


AT   YALE  COLLEGE.  53 

Ministers  who  came  West  from  later  classes  were  Romu- 
lus Barnes,  Flavel  Bascom,  William  Carter,  and  Lemuel 
Foster  ('28),  William  P.  Apthorp  and  Julius  A.  Reed 
('29),  Enoch  Mead  ('30),  and  Milo  W.  Miles  ('31). 
Pres.  Edward  Beecher  was  of  the  class  of  '22,  and  Pres. 
J.  M.  Sturtevant  of  the  class  of  '26. 

During  his  college  life  he  kept  in  communication  with 
his  Templeton  fellow-townsman,  of  like  mother-wit  and 
Christian  excellence,  who  had  gone  to  Turkey.  Dr. 
Goodell  wrote  him  in  his  senior  year  of  the  Jews  and 
ancient  Christian  sects  in  that  land.  The  letter  is  dated 
May  28,  1827,  and  reached  him  the  twelfth  of  the  follow- 
ing December.  More  than  two  months  after  writing, 
Goodell  had  been  shut  up  at  Beyroot  on  account  of  the 
plague,  and  added  a  postscript  June  27.  He  had  received 
letters  from  New  Haven  and  Templeton  by  hand  of  Rev. 
Josiah  Brewer,  missionary  to  Smyrna.  He  wrote  to  Mr. 
Turner :  — 

"Your  letter  and  those  that  accompanied  it  were  the 
first  I  had  received  from  Templeton  since  I  left  America. 
I  thank  you  for  all  the  information  of  my  native  place 
and  early  friends  and  yourself.  Remember  me  affection- 
ately to  your  father's  family,  and  to  any  in  Templeton  or 
elsewhere  who  may  inquire  after  me.  Always  tell  me 
every  thing  of  Templeton  and  all  the  news  for  many 
miles  round,  remembering  that  I  am  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Lebanon,  and  that  all  the  news  I  get  from  home  comes 
over  the  wide  waters.  It  will  ever  give  me  pleasure  to 
hear  especially  that  you  are  engaged  in  preaching  the 
gospel  of  salvation,  and  are  successful  in  bringing  men 
to  holiness  and  heaven.  Let  the  Bible  and  your  own 
heart  be  the  books  you  study  most.  [That  advice  was 
followed  to  the  letter.] 

"  Let  your  object  in  every  thing  be  to  honor,  exalt,  and 


54  ASA   TUBNEB. 

glorify  Him  who  has  been  so  much  dishonored  and  despised 
in  this  world  which  he  came  to  redeem  and  save.  As 
to  what  respects  salvation,  be  determined  to  know  nothing 
but  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified,  and  4  glory  in  nothing 
save  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.' 

"Remember  me  kindly  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wellington 
and  family ;  also,  to  Madam  Sparhawk  and  many  others. 
The  Lord  have  you  in  his  holy  keeping !  The  Lord  lift 
up  his  countenance  upon  you  and  give  you  peace ! 

"  Thus  prays,  yours  affectionately, 

"W.  GOODELL." 


VII. 

PREPARING  FOR   THE  MINISTRY. 

It  may  be  said  with  truth  that  Mr.  Turner's  whole 
course  of  life,  after  his  change  of  heart,  was  a  preparation 
to  preach  the  gospel.  His  peculiar  experience  not  only 
impelled  him  to  persuade  others  to  "  taste  and  see  that 
the  Lord  is  good,"  but  to  urge  those  great  evangelical 
truths,  his  ignorance  of  which  in  boyhood  had,  as  he  felt, 
kept  him  out  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He  continually 
tested  their  power  over  himself  and  over  those  about  him. 
"  He  naturally  approached  all  subjects  in  the  line  of  their 
practical,  emotional,  and  devotional  results.  His  habits 
of  mind  required  only  obvious  present  usefulness.  He 
could  believe  and  act  simply  on  testimony  and  authority." 
Save  the  heart-searchings  and  reasonings  on  practical 
grounds  which  have  been  given  in  his  own  words,  he  seems 
never  to  have  had  any  religious  doubts  before  conversion, 
and  he  certainly  never  had  any  afterwards.  There  was  no 
time  to  indulge  them  in  a  life  of  such  active  Christian 
usefulness,  and  therefore  of  such  constant  growth.  College 
studies  and  recreations  had  no  such  influence  on  him  as 
they  often  have,  alas !  on  many.  Scholarly  and  literary 
ambition  did  not  tempt  him.  There  is  no  evidence  of 
spiritual  decline  and  renewal  either  from  external  dis- 
tractions, or  from  what  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of 
his  class-mates  called,  in  his  own  case,  "  over-thinking." 
Knowledge  and  mental  discipline  were  valuable  to  him  as 
means  of  promoting  righteousness  and  the  kingdom  of 
God.      He    enjoyed   leading   fellow-students    and   fellow- 


56  ASA    TUBNEB. 

townsmen  to  Christ  better  than  any  intellectual  luxury. 
His  view  of  the  subjects  that  passed  before  his  thoughts 
was  always  as  strong  as  ill-health  allowed,  and  always 
serious  and  looking  towards  important  uses ;  study  as  well 
as  religion  was  with  him  a  practical  matter.  There  is  no 
trace  of  his  lines  of  reading,  but  it  would  be  easy  for  any 
of  his  educated  friends  to  say  what  classes  of  books  he 
would  not  draw  from  the  college  and  society  libraries. 
All  through  life  he  was  "  so  intently  absorbed  in  the  work 
of  the  present  that  he  had  no  time  for  diaries  or  records 
for  the  future."  He  instinctively  chose,  out  of  what 
offered  itself,  what  would  best  enable  him  to  serve  Christ. 
Graduating  from  college  in  his  twenty-fifth  year,  he  went 
right  on  with  the  study  of  theology.  He  longed  to  be  in 
his  life-work. 

"  I  graduated  in  the  class  of  1827,  and  entered  the 
theological  seminary  [Yale]  the  same  fall.  I  was  very 
much  interested  in  my  theological  studies,  and  especially 
in  Dr.  Taylor's  lectures." 

This  remarkable  instructor  had  occupied  the  chair  of 
didactic  theology  five  years,  and  was  in  the  full  flush  of 
his  enthusiasm  and  power.  To  a  student  who  wanted  "  a 
theology  that  can  be  preached,"  he  was  as  magnetic  as  to 
one  who  delighted  in  metaphysical  distinctions,  vigorous 
reasoning,  and  opulent  exemplification  from  the  New 
England  fathers.  Whether  he  had  then  carried  out  the 
moral  philosophy  of  his  own  instructor,  President  Dwight 
(as  he  had  when  the  writer  was  his  pupil,  fifteen  years 
later),  or  not,  could  hardly  be  discovered  from  the 
preaching  or  conversation  of  the  "  theologue  "  of  1828-29. 
No  trace  of  it  appears  in  his  autobiography. 

It  was  characteristic  of  this  young  man's  concern  for 
the  improvement  of  all  about  him  that  he  persuaded  his 
father  to  abandon  his  cherished  plan  about  another  son, 


PBEPABING  FOB    THE  MINISTBY.  57 

and  allow  him  also  to  obtain  a  college  education,  entering 
Yale  in  1830.  He  walked  from  New  Haven  to  Temple  ton 
for  this  purpose  and  back  (240  miles)  with  sixty  cents  in 
his  pocket.  His  persuasions  were  seconded  by  those  of 
his  mother.  The  father  yielded  "  from  a  pure  conviction 
of  duty,  but  costing  him,  at  his  age,  as  he  told  me  on  his 
death-bed,"  says  the  son  destined  for  the  farm  in  his 
thought,  "the  most  painful  struggle  of  his  life."  We  are 
indebted  to  the  younger  student  for  this  picture  of  his 
brother's  life  in  the  theological  department  of  Yale :  — 

"  When  I  was  with  him  in  New  Haven,  our  father  had 
all  he  could  do  to  take  care  of  himself  and  family,  and  more 
than  he  ought  to  have  done ;  and  we  were  necessitated  to 
provide  for  ourselves.  But  Asa  had  already  found  many 
kind  friends,  who  took  a  deep  interest  in  our  welfare,  and 
helped  us  along  in  every  way  they  could ;  among  whom  I 
particularly  remember  Deacon  Salter,  then  a  merchant 
there,  afterward  a  farmer  at  Waverly,  111.  He  did  the 
work  in  his  garden  among  other  things,  and  I  taught  in 
Dwight's  Gymnasium,  and  sawed  wood  in  the  college 
woodyard ;  wherever  chance  presented  we  '  rowed '  with 
the  spade  and  '  played  ball '  with  the  buck-saw,  for  our 
amusement,  at  no  cost  and  some  little  profit.  Asa  did  all 
the  planning  and  providing,  and  always  more  of  the  work 
than  he  was  able  to  do.  But  to  me  the  work  was  the  very 
best  of  fun.  We  spent  no  time  whatever  in  making  calls 
about  the  city,  or  in  idle  amusement.  Asa  at  that  time 
drank  in  and  lived  on  Dr.  Taylor's  new  theology,  and  did 
much  toward  impressing  it  on  my  mind.  But  I  could  not 
quite  see  through  it. 

"  All  my  friends,  except  Asa,  had  marked  me  out  for  a 
lawyer  and  politician,  and  I  heard  and  read  every  thing 
relating  to  religion  with  the  same  unsparing  scrutiny  that 
I  would  apply  to  Blackstone  or  the  Constitution  of  the 


58  ASA   TUBNEB. 

United  States.  This  troubled  Asa,  but  though,  as  I 
thought,  I  could  always  beat  him  in  the  argument, 
I  always  knew  that  he  had  something  in  his  soul 
that  I  had  not ;  and  if  it  was  not  the  strongest  thing 
in  the  universe,  it  was  the  strongest  thing  I  knew  any  thing 
about,  and  if  he  could  not  remove  my  logical  difficulties, 
he  contrived  so  adroitly  to  waive  them  for  the  time  being, 
that  I  determined  to  find  out  for  myself  what  that  some- 
thing was  that  appeared  every-where  in  his  life  and  spirit, 
but  —  as  it  seemed  to  me  —  was  nowhere  justified  by  his 
arguments.  The  result  was  that  I  gave  up  my  law  projects^ 
united  with  their  then  i  creedless  '  college  church,  and  in 
due  time  followed  my  much-beloved  brother  to  the  West, 
the  dearest  brother  I  ever  had."  1 

A  little  glimpse  of  personal  Christian  labor  and  love  in 
college  is  given  us  just  here,  from  the  recollections  of  the 
elder  brother.  One  Saturday,  just  before  leaving  New 
Haven  for  a  Sabbath  appointment,  he  had  a  faithful  talk 
with  the  younger  on  the  question  of  personal  religion. 
As  he  entered  their  room  upon  his  return  on  Monday,  he 
asked:  "Well,  Jonathan,  what  is  the  conclusion  of  the 
whole  matter?'  "To  fear  God  and  keep  his  command- 
ments," was  the  prompt  reply.  It  disclosed  the  style  of 
appeal  and  motive  employed.  The  young  "  theologue  ' 
heard  one  of  the  Andover  professors  say  not  long  after 
that  Dr.  Taylor,  of  New  Haven,  had  thought  more  on 
moral  government  than  any  man  within  his  knowledge. 
It  was  a  submission  to  the  just  and  holy  government  of 
the  Most  High  which  his  students  learned  from  him  to 
urge  upon  men  with  all  their  power.  It  was  made  the 
basis  of  what  is  now  called  "  accepting  Christ." 

1 "  An  entire  change  in  the  views  and  sympathies  of  my  father's  family,  including 
the  fact  that  I  am  not  on  that  farm  [at  Templeton]  to-day,  whether  for  good  or  evil, 
was  wholly  owing  to  Asa."  —  Prof.  J.  B.  T. 


PBEPABWG  FOB   THE  MINISTBY.  59 

Dr.  Taylor  was  in  those  years,  and  long  after,  a  revival 
preacher  of  great  power  and  success.  Leaving  his  phi- 
losophy of  ethics  in  the  lecture-room,  he  wielded  the  great 
truths  of  moral  government  and  redemption  alike  so  as  to 
"shut  men  up  to  the  faith."  This  gave  his  lectures,  to 
Mr.  Turner's  mind,  still  greater  impressiveness.  His  own 
experience  had  ripened  on  these  two  lines,  Christ  and 
conscience ;  the  ethical  element  never  obscuring  or  being 
obscured  by  the  evangelical,  and  on  the  other  hand,  the 
evangelical  being  ever  fortified  and  steadied  by  the  ethical. 
He  loved  plain,  pungent  phraseology,  clear,  incisive  state- 
ments with  edge  and  push  to  them,  and  that  steady  march 
in  public  address  towards  closing  the  alienation  between 
man  and  his  Maker,  which  characterized  his  instructor's 
preaching.  This  was,  besides,  set  home  in  the  pulpit  with 
a  sonorous  voice,  passing  back  and  forth  between  mellow 
and  ringing  tones,  and  a  countenance  intellectual  and 
handsome,  of  which  the  expressive  and  beautiful  eyes, 
kindling  with  fervor  and  benevolence,  were  the  most 
striking  features.  Few  of  his  students  derived  spiritual 
impulse  from  him  in  more  thoroughly  practical  ways  than 
did  Mr.  Turner.     His  brother  says  again  :  — 

"  I  remember  the  zeal  and  earnestness  and  success  with 
which  he  exhorted  his  little  meetings  of  gathered  neigh- 
bors in  our  old  town  to  indoctrinate  them  into  the  then 
new  and  more  stirring  orthodoxy  of  Yale.  I  remember 
how  he  used  to  preach  and  exhort  round  about  Yale  during 
his  theological  course.  I  remember  how  intensely  earnest 
he  was  in  all  religious  and  revival  efforts  during  the  few 
months  I  was  with  him  at  Yale,  just  before  he  came  West. 
Though  half-dead  with  dyspepsia,  and  unable  to  study 
or  to  eat  or  drink  in  any  natural  way,  he  was  always 
wide-awake  and  on  hand  whenever  Christ  and  his  cause 
were   in   need  of  either  means  or  help.      Perhaps  these 


60  ASA    TUENEB. 

years  of  depression  and  apparent  loss  and  sadness  tended 
to  throw  him  more  exclusively  into  his  destined  future 
life-work  as  a  preacher  and  organizer  on  our  pioneer 
frontier,  than  otherwise  would  have  been.  It  was  alwavs 
easy  for  him  to  talk  of  Christ  and  the  Father." 

At  first  neither  of  the  brothers  had  a  thought  of  "  going 
West."  The  mother  on  her  sick-bed,  however,  had 
"  impressions  and  visions  and  dreams,"  which  led  her  to 
think  they  would  go  far  from  home  and  never  return  to 
live  there  ;  and  these  she  told  to  her  sons  from  time  to 
time.  She  died  in  1832,  about  three  months  after  uniting 
in  the  organization  of  the  Trinitarian  Church  in  Temple- 
ton.  Meantime,  in  the  providence  of  God,  a  movement 
had  taken  place  in  the  theological  department  at  Yale 
which  brought  to  pass  the  fulfillment  of  her  imaginings. 
The  autobiographer  says  :  — 

"  One  event  occurred  that  decided  my  future  life.  A 
band  of  students  was  formed  for  the  purpose  of  going 
to  Illinois  and  planting  the  institutions  of  learning 
and  the  gospel.  I  was  invited  to  join  them.  I  did  so. 
The  individuals  who  first  gave  in  their  names  were  Mason 
Grosvenor,  Theron  Baldwin,  J.  M.  Sturtevant,  Elisha 
Jenny,  William  Kirby,  John  F.  Brooks,  and  Asa  Turner. 
J.  M.  Ellis,  who  had  been  sent  out  by  the  A.  H.  M.  S., 
was  trying  to  plant  an  institution  in  Jacksonville. 
Correspondence  with  him  led  us  to  unite  our  efforts  with 
his.  The  result  was  Illinois  College.  This  shaped  the 
course  of  my  whole  life  after.  I  have  never  regretted  for 
a  moment  that  I  came  West.  I  rejoice  that  God  permitted 
me  to  have  a  part  in  the  work.  The  last  year  in  the 
seminary  was  taken  up  in  this  effort,  and  especially  in 
raising  means  to  plant  the  college." 

The  young  men  named  above,  with  five  others,  Albert 
Hale,  Romulus  Barnes,  Flavel  Bascom,  William  Carter, 


PREPARING  FOR    THE  MINIS  TRY.  61 

and  Lucien  Farnham,  formed  the  "  Illinois  Association." 
Of  these  five  the  first  four  entered  the  seminary  from  the 
classes  of  1827  and  1828,  and  the  last  from  the  class  of 
1827  at  Amherst.  Elisha  Jenny,  of  the  original  seven, 
entered  Yale  Seminary  from  Dartmouth  in  1828,  and 
John  F.  Brooks  the  same  year  from  Hamilton  College. 
The  Association  was  "  started  by  Mason  Grosvenor,"  the 
only  survivor  of  the  original  seven  writes  me,  "  in  1829 ; 
though  all  of  us  had  previously  contemplated  going  West 
in  some  capacity.  We  immediately  opened  correspondence 
with  Rev.  John  M.  Ellis  and  others  in  Illinois,  — who  were 
laboring  to  start  a  college,  and  had  already  erected  a  small 
building,  —  and  pledged  ourselves,  to  raise  $10,000  for  the 
undertaking,  which  we  did.  Brothers  T.  Baldwin  and  J. 
M.  Sturtevant  came  to  the  state  in  the  fall  of  1829.  Mr. 
Sturtevant  opened  a  school  —  the  beginning  of  Illinois 
College  —  in  the  building  provided,  in  January,  1830. 
The  whole  population  of  the  state  by  the  United  States 
census  of  that  year  was  about  one  fourth  of  what  the 
population  of  Chicago  is  now." J 

In  a  paper  read  at  the  Semi-Centennial  of  the  Divinity 
School  of  Yale  College  (May,  1872),  Dr.  Sturtevant  adds 
to  the  names  already  given  those  of  Lemuel  Foster  and 
Edward  Beecher.  Mr.  Foster  graduated  from  Yale  Col- 
lege in  1828,  was  a  home  missionary  at  Bloomington  in 
1833-36,  his  nearest  ministerial  neighbors  "  on  the  west, 
thirty  miles ;  south,  forty  ;  north,  sixty  ;  and  east,  eighty," 
—  aloof  from  the  sphere  of  Mr.  Turner,  —  and,  after  the 
latter  left  the  state  (1840-42),  was  preaching  and  teach- 
ing a  classical  school  at  Bethel,  Bond  County.  Dr. 
Beecher  had  graduated  in  1822,  studied  theology  at 
New  Haven  and  Andover,  been  college  tutor  in  1825, 
pastor   in  Boston,  1826,  and   until   he   went   to   Illinois 

1  Letter  of  John  F.  Brooks,  May,  1886. 


62  ASA    TUBNEB. 

College  as  president  in  1831  (while  Mr.  Turner  was  a 
home  missionary).  At  Jacksonville  he  remained  till 
1844.  The  other  twelve  are  commonly  regarded  as 
the  "  Association,"  or  Illinois  Band,  as  they  have  come 
to  be  called  since  the  Iowa  Band  was  formed  at  Andover. 
Four  such  bands  had  previously  gone  out  from  Andover, 
and  the  beginnings  of  a  national  home  missionary  organ- 
ization is  connected  with  one  of  these  in  1825.  But 
Dr.  Leonard  Woods  says,  in  his  history  of  the  seminary, 
that  "  the  education  of  men  for  foreign  missions  was  from 
the  first  a  prominent  object.  For  ten  years  all  who  were 
sent  out  by  the  American  Board,  except  one,  were 
educated  here."  Though  one  of  these  two  leading 
schools  of  the  prophets,  Andover  and  Yale,  did  more 
relatively  for  one  branch  of  missions,  and  the  other  for 
another,  they  responded  to  the  claims  of  both. 

The  ideas  and  spirit  of  one  of  the  Association  who 
chose  home  missionary  life  are  thus  disclosed :  "  That 
the  end  of  being  is  '  blessedness,'  —  '  goodness  '  rather 
than  '  happiness,'  —  I  do  not  think  either  of  us  ever 
doubted,  at  least  in  our  manhood  years ;  though  he 
often  expressed  his  ideas  in  the  terminology  of  Dr. 
Taylor,  who  used  the  two  terms  with  indiscriminative- 
ness,  and,  to  my  mind,  confusion,  but  not  to  his  [brother's] 
mind. 

"  So  you  see  how  it  was  that  we  both  believed  in  Christ, 
without  possibility  of  doubt  or  question,  and  therein  we 
agreed ;  but  on  wholly  different  grounds,  and  therein  we 
disagreed,  but  without  wrangle  or  discord.  Sometimes, 
when  I  pushed  strongly  my  doubts  against  his  wholly 
orthodox  theologies,  he  evidently  feared  that  in  the  end 
I  would  be  compelled  to  give  up  Christ  and  all  revealed 
truth ;  for  he  could  see  no  other  clear  result.  But  I  never 
had  the  slightest  fear  on  his  account."  We  venture  to 
add  that  no  one  else  ever  had. 


PBEPABING  FOB    THE  MINISTBY.  63 

An  example  of  the  practical  Christian  bent  which  he 
carried  into  the  new  home  missionary  work  is  furnished 
by  an  aged  minister,  who  has  also  been  a  teacher  and  a 
college  professor.  He  lived  in  a  town  near  Templeton 
where  Mr.  Turner  did  some  of  his  first  student-preaching, 
and  where  a  revival  occurred.  To  New  Haven  he  followed 
the  young  preacher,  who  there  aided  him  to  enter  Yale. 
"  He  could  not  find  any  thing  else  for  me  to  do,  and  spoke 
a  good  word  for  me  to  the  steward  and  treasurer.  I 
roomed  in  the  recitation-room,  and  waited  on  the  tables, 
and  so  saved  something.  All  I  am  I  owe,  under  God,  to 
Father  Turner." 


VIII. 

FORESHADOWINGS    OF   DOMESTIC   LIFE. 

Writing  to  Dr.  Absalom  Peters,  in  November,  1829, 
Mr.  Turner  said :  "  Should  be  willing  to  leave  [for  Illi- 
nois] any  time  after  the  first  of  April,  1830,  unless  some- 
thing unforeseen  takes  place."  The  "  unforeseen r  was 
about  to  take  place.  It  was  part  of  his  preparation  or 
outfit  for  the  ministry,  and  was  thus  recorded  half  a  century 
later : — 

"  In  the  spring  of  1830,  through  the  invitation  of  George 
Beecher,  I  went  to  Boston  to  study  with  his  father,  and 
there  likewise  occurred  an  event  which  has  affected  my 
whole  life.  I  found  one  who  was  willing  to  cast  in  her  lot 
with  me  in  going  to  the  '  unknown  land ; '  for  indeed  it 
was  less  known  than  India  at  that  time.  And  now  after 
fifty  years  I  see  that  the  hand  of  God  was  in  it.  She  was 
in  Boston  teaching.  I  hardly  knew  why  I  went  there ; 
but  results  revealed  why.     Her  name  was  Martha  Bull." 

Two  years  before  he  thus  wrote,  he  had  said  in  a  letter 
to  an  intimate  friend,  most  of  whose  life-work  as  a  teacher 
was  done  by  his  side,  and  whose  wife  had  become  enfeebled 
by  care :  "  You  have  lived  with  her  now  twenty-six  years, 
and  ought  to  be  able  to  begin  to  appreciate  her ;  but  I 
don't  suppose  you  do.  We  are  now  in  our  forty-eighth 
year  of  our  married  life,  and  I  begin  to  appreciate  the 
value  of  my  wife  to  me.  You  will  need  to  be  laid  on  the 
shelf,  and  become  rather  an  encumbrance  to  the  world, 
before  you  will,  in  fact,  realize  her  value." 

The  parents  of  Miss  Martha  Bull  were  Dr.  Isaac  Dick- 


FOBE SHADOWING S   OF  DOMESTIC  LIFE.  65 

erman  Bull  and  Mary  Watson,  his  wife,  of  Hartford, 
Conn.  She  was  of  the  seventh  generation  from  Thomas 
Bull,  born  in  Great  Britian,  1610,  who  came  to  America 
September,  1635,  in  the  ship  Hopewell.  He  landed  at 
Boston,  and  the  next  spring  was  second  in  command  of  a 
volunteer  company  sent  to  aid  Connecticut  in  the  Pequot 
War,  Captain  John  Mason  commanding.  In  the  Center 
Church  burying-ground  in  Hartford,  his  tombstone  bears 
this  inscription :  "  Here  lieth  the  body  of  Capt.  Thomas 
Bull,  who  died  October,  1684.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
settlers  in  Hartford,  a  lieutenant  in  the  great  and  decisive 
battle  with  the  Pequots  at  Mystic,  May  26,  1637,1  and 
commander  of  the  Fort  at  Say  brook,2  in  July,  1675,  when 
its  surrender  was  demanded  by  Major  Andross."  His 
wife,  buried  near  by,  had  died  in  1680.  His  descendant  of 
the  sixth  generation,  Isaac  D.,  a  prominent  druggist  of 
Hartford,  married  Mary  Watson,  daughter  of  Ebenezer 
Watson,  the  first  publisher  of  The  Hartford  Courant,  a 

1 "  Among  the  Hartford  citizens  particularly  distinguished  in  the  expedition 
were  Rev.  Mr.  Hooker,  Rev.  Mr.  Stone,  Thomas  Stanton,  and  Lieutenant  Bull. 
Lieutenant  Bull,  after  Mason's  troops  had  given  that  volley  in  upon  the  Pequot 
Fort,  —  which  Captain  Underhill  admired  as  so '  complete '  that '  the  finger  of  God 
seemed  to  have  touched  both  match  and  flint,'  — and  when  the  fort  was  in  flames,  at 
the  imminent  risk  of  his  own  life,  rescued  the  wounded  soldier,  Arthur  Smith,  from 
the  devouring  element.  Brave  and  efficient  soldier  that  Bull  was,  providence 
seems  to  have  taken  special  care  of  him,  for  a  hard  piece  of  cheese  which  he 
carried  in  his  pocket  diverted  an  Indian  arrow  from  his  groin  and  saved  his  life, 
the  Lieutenant,  says  Major  Mason,  having  no  other  defence."  —  Hartford  in  the 
Olden  Time,  pp.  118, 120. 

2  "Andross  attempted  jurisdiction  in  Connecticut  and  elsewhere,  under  authority 
from  the  Duke  of  York,  as  his  lieutenant.  Bull,  with  a  hundred  men,  reached  the 
Fort  at  Sayhrook  a  few  hours  before  Andross  with  two  small  vessels  appeared  at 
the  mouth  of  the  river.  Rev.  Joseph  Haynes  and  Mr.  Gershom  Bulkely  were  with 
Captain  Bull,  perhaps  as  chaplain  and  surgeon."  —  Palfrey's  Hist.  N.  Eng.,  iii,  129. 
The  latter  drew  up  a  report,  from  which  the  tactics  and  spirit  that  defeated 
Andross  and  the  Duke  appear.  We  are  indebted  to  "  local  traditions,"  Palfrey 
thinks,  for  Captain  Bull's  answer  to  the  reading  of  York's  commission.  "  Con- 
necticut has  her  own  charter,  signed  by  His  Gracious  Majesty  King  Charles  II. 
Leave  off  your  reading  or  take  the  consequences."  — Ridpath's  Hist.  U.  S.  p.  191. 
Andross  reembarked  under  an  escort  of  Bull's  soldiers.  The  Captain's  services 
against  the  Pequots  and  Andross  were  recognized  by  a  grant  from  the  colony  of 
four  hundred  acres  of  land. 


66  ASA   TURNEB. 

man  of  mark  in  Hartford,  who  died  in  1777,  and  is  buried 
in  the  old  church-yard.  His  second  wife  was  Hannah 
Bunce,  of  Lebanon,  and  they  had  four  children,  of  whom 
Mary  (Mrs.  I.  D.  Bull)  was  the  second.1  In  1779  she 
married  Mr.  Barzillai  Hudson,  who,  it  is  thought,  bought 
the  Watson  interest  in  the  Courant.  They  had  four  chil- 
dren, and  as  her  husbands  already  had  children,  there  were 
several  sets  of  children  in  the  family  eventually.  She 
died  in  1828,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three.  The  name  Bull 
had  earlier  been  Bullen  in  England,  and  once,  it  is  thought, 
Boleyn.  Dr.  Isaac  D.  Bull  was  born  1774,  and  died 
1849;  his  wife,  Mary  Watson,  was  born  1798,  and  died 
1854,  aged  eighty-three,  at  the  home  of  her  son  in  Gales- 
burg,  111.,  having  lived  in  Denmark,  Iowa,  with  her 
daughter,  Mrs.  Turner,  in  1852.  They  had  six  children, 
of  whom  the  fourth,  Albert  Henry,  was  the  projector  of 
"Fern  Park,"  at  Old  Orchard  Beach,  Maine;  the  fifth, 
Elizabeth  Cotton,  married  Rev.  Bennett  F.  Northrop, 
twenty-two  years  pastor  at  Manchester,  Conn.,  and  eighteen 
at  Griswold,  and  the  youngest  was  Martha. 

It  is  altogether  probable  from  his  brother's  account  of 
their  tasks  and  occupations  in  the  struggle  for  an  educa- 
tion at  New  Haven,  with  entire  seclusion  from  the  excellent 
society  of  the  city,  that  in  his  seven  years'  residence  there 
Mr.  Turner  had  come  to  know  no  one  of  such  education, 
refinement,  and  personal  attractions  as  was  now  brought 
near  to  him  in  the  home  of  Dr.  Beecher.  The  college 
revival,  in  which  he  and  George  Beecher  shared  will 
account  for  the  latter's  agency,  if  it  were  unintentional,  in 
what  occurred.     Miss  Bull  had  been  sent  to  the  school  at 

1  After  his  death,  Mrs.  Watson  conducted  the  paper  herself,  "perhaps  the  first 
woman  editor  in  America."  Three  of  Mr.  Watson's  brothers  were  captains  in 
the  army  of  the  Revolution,  and  another  graduated  at  Yale,  1776,  and  was  early 
naval  officer  of  the  city  of  New  York,  member  of  the  state  assembly,  speaker,  state 
senator,  and  United  States  senator. 


iS 


Miss  Martha  Bull 

(See  page  04.) 


FOBESHADOWIXGS   OF  DOMESTIC  LIFE.  67 

Litchfield,  Conn.,  taught  by  Miss  Catharine  E.  Beecher, 
with  the  aid  of  Mrs.  Stowe ;  had  been  converted  there  at 
the  same  time  with  the  latter ;  boarded  part  of  the  time 
in  Dr.  Beecher's  family  at  Litchfield ;  and  remembered, 
with  some  amusement  in  after  years,  teaching  the  famous 
author  of  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  her  first  hymn.  As  a 
teacher  in  Boston,  she  naturally  re-appeared  in  the  same 
family,  which  had  removed  thither  about  1826.  She  was 
now  in  her  twenty-first  year  ;  Mr.  Turner  in  his  thirty- 
first. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  Dr.  Beecher  advised  the  intend- 
ing home  missionary  that  he  would  need  a  wife,  but  that 
this  particular  young  lady  among  those  he  met  was  not 
to  be  chosen. 

It  may  be  a  slight  and  not  unpleasant  rehabilitation 
of  a  social  past  to  set  down  here,  "  without  note  or 
comment,"  a  letter  of  his,  which  exemplifies,  among  other 
things,  his  conscientiousness  and  grave  humor.  He  seems 
to  have  gone  up  the  Merrimack  a  little  distance  for  a 
short  preaching  engagement. 

Bradford,  July  19  [1830],  Monday  morn. 

Miss  Bull,  —  As  to  my  chirography  [It  never  improved  ma- 
terially!], my  paper  is  not  very  good;  my  table,  a  small  drawer 
inverted  on  my  knee.  My  object  in  writing  this  a.m.  is,  if  possi- 
ble, to  hand  the  letter  to  the  first  stage,  and  save  you  the  mortifica- 
tion of  a  Bradford  postmark. 

Yesterday  preached  three  times,  attended  a  funeral,  and  an 
enquiry  meeting  after  the  third  exercise.  The  Lord  seems  to  bless 
my  feeble  efforts.  A  dozen  or  more  were  willing  to  have  personal 
conversation  on  the  subject  of  religion  —  some  of  them  consid- 
erably impressed.  Have  a  meeting  this  evening,  Wednesday,  and 
Friday.    Shall  probably  return  to-day  week. 

I  presume  by  this  time  you  will  have  no  doubt  that  I  feel  an 
interest  in  you.  This  has  been  constantly  increased  by  our  ac- 
quaintance, and  I  think  we  ought  to  take  every  opportunity  to 
render  our  acquaintance  more  intimate. 


68  ASA    TUBNEB. 

i 

What  God  designs  by  this  providence  we  know  not  now.  I  was 
glad  to  hear  you  say  that  you  could  submit  to  His  will.  This,  no 
doubt,  is  the  right  state  of  feeling.  I  think  Christians  ought  never 
to  have  their  affections  so  set  upon  any  object  but  that  they  can 
surrender  it  without  essential  injury.  I  long  ago  made  up  my 
mind  that  I  never  would  give  up  the  reins  to  my  feelings  till  it 
was  safe.    This  I  think  a  good  resolution,  and  I  mean  to  keep  it. 

[Then  follows  some  sage  advice  to  his  correspondent  as  a  young 
lady,  disclaiming  any  thought  of  attraction  in  himself,  addressing 
her  as  he  would  a  sister,  not  from  "  coldness,  but  affection,"  etc., 
1 '  in  view  of  her  learning  the  decision  of  her  parents  at  Hartford 
on  Wednesday,  of  which  he  asks  to  be  informed  immediately, 
expressing  the  hope  that  she  will  put  her  own  thoughts  and 
feelings  freely  on  paper,  whatever  may  be  the  result  of  their 
intercourse.] 

There  are  many  things  which  ought  to  be  the  subject  of  discus- 
sion between  us.  What  are  the  qualities  requisite  to  a  happy 
union?  Affection,  you  will  answer.  But  on  what  must  this 
affection  rest,  in  order  to  be  permanent?  A  suitable  knowledge 
of  character  and  mutual  esteem  arising  from  this  knowledge. 
And  of  what  is  this  the  result?  I  wish  you  would  give  me  your 
opinion  in  full.  Is  similarity  of  taste,  feeling,  and  mental 
culture  essential?  Is  similarity  of  views  on  religious  subjects 
necessary  ? 

I  gave  you  an  abstract  of  my  history.  I  told  you  I  was  a  farmer, 
and  the  son  of  a  farmer.  And  in  consequence  of  this  there  was  a 
neglect  of  my  early  education,  a  want  of  that  refinement  and  ease 
of  manners  which  would  make  me  acceptable  to  most  young  ladies 
of  your  advantages.  But  I  have  so  long  been  admitted  to  refined 
society  that  the  change  in  my  feelings  is  greater  than  in  my 
person.  My  advantages  in  this  respect  have  been  very  great,  if  I 
had  been  susceptible  of  improvement.  I  have  some  ideal  notion 
of  what  a  gentleman  ought  to  be,  to  be  worthy  of  the  affection  of 
such  a  lady  as  I  wish  for  a  companion.  Now  I  want  my  wife  to 
take  me  just  as  I  am,  and  make  me  what  I  ought  to  be.  Do 
not  shrink  from  the  task!  I  will  be  as  tractable  as  possible. 
Another  thing  I  wish  her  to  do  is  to  criticize  the  matter  and  the 
manner  of  my  sermons.  Here  there  will  be  a  wide  field  for  labor, 
and  she  will  be  obliged  to  prune  off  excrescences  with  an  unsparing 
hand.  So  much  for  style.  I  have  quite  a  taste  for  metaphysics, 
but  my  powers  are  growing  somewhat  rusty  for  want  of  use,  and  I 


FOBEiSHADOWmaS   OF  DOMESTIC  LIFE.  69 

want  my  wife  should  bring  them  into  exercise.  I  want  she  should 
be  able  to  detect  sophistry  in  every  form  —  at  least  all  I  use !  and 
agree  to  differ  with  me  on  some  subjects.  So,  if  perchance  she 
should  not  be  a  theologian  in  the  outset,  I  would  do  all  I  could  to 
make  her  one,  so  that  I  might  have  the  pleasure  of  disputation 
with  my  beloved  wife.  I  should  wish  to  have  her  form  her  own 
opinions  on  every  subject,  and  never  submit  to  me,  except  through 
the  dire  necessity  of  argument  founded  on  truth.   You  may  wonder, 

M ,  at  the  course  I  have  marked  out;  but  if  not  a  good  one, 

and  the  best  one,  you  must  correct  me.  I  will  have  my  mind  open 
to  conviction. 

You  will  ask  how  are  domestic  duties  to  be  performed?  Indeed, 
Ido7i't  know.  Perhaps  it  will  be  best  not  to  have  any  domestic 
duties.    But  at  any  rate,  I  could  clear  off  the  table  as  well  as  Mr. 

B ,  and  perhaps  set  it  better.    For  while  I  was  in  college  I  had 

a  party  at  my  room,  and  was  both  cook  and  master  of  the  assem- 
bly. The  company  praised  my  johnnycake  and  other  articles  of 
refreshment.  So  you  perceive  I  could  change  with  you  some- 
times. 

Another  thing :  if  I  am  ever  rich,  my  wife  must  keep  the  purse- 
strings.  Now,  although  I  shall  wish  her  to  obey  me  in  all  things, 
according  to  Scripture,  yet  I  shall  wish  to  have  her  do  as  she 
pleases  in  a  great  many.  One  thing,  she  must  be  given  to 
hospitality.  I  have  been  into  so  many  ministers'  families  that 
sometimes  I  have  been  sick  of  their  wives.  .  .  .  But  in  some  this 
picture  is  reversed,  and  the  good  lady  renders  every  body  happy 
who  calls.  And  I  wish  every  body  to  leave  my  house  feeling  that 
I  have  the  best  wife  in  the  world.  Again,  after  all  I  have  said,  I 
am  very  much  afraid  that  I  shall  be  too  selfish.  Therefore  I  shall 
wish  my  wife  to  keep  an  eye  on  me,  and  if  I  will  not  give  accord- 
ing to  my  ability  to  benevolent  objects,  to  ward  off  the  reproach 
by  her  own  liberality:  that  she  may  have  an  opportunity  to  do 
this,  she  may  have  every  thing  at  her  own  disposal.  Don't  be  dis- 
couraged at  the  task  before  you.  I  will  not  require  "  bricks 
without  straw "  —  or  stubble ;  and  if  I  am  not  susceptible  of 
improvement,  I  will  not  require  it  at  your  hand. 

Yours  sincerely,  a.  t. 

Tuesday  morn.  I  failed  of  the  stage  yesterday;  hoped  to 
send  this  a.m.,  but  there  is  no  stage.  Therefore  I  shall  not  send 
till  to-morrow,   as    I    then   shall    have   an   opportunity  without 


V 


70  ASA    TUBNEB. 

exciting  any  suspicions.  I  hope  you  will  write  me  as  soon  as 
consistent,  whether  you  have  heard  from  your  parents  or  not.  In 
the  meantime,  let  us  look  to  God  for  wisdom  and  direction. 
Never  did  I  feel  more  sensibly  than  for  a  few  days  past  the  fleeting 
nature  of  all  below.  I  was  called  to  attend  the  funeral  of  an  only 
son.  The  father  had  no  refuge  but  his  own  disconsolate  heart. 
He  was  in  agony  of  spirit.  Every  joy  hath  its  sorrows  surely, 
thought  I,  and  can  it  be  good  to  bind  our  hearts  so  to  earth  when 
the  ties  must  so  soon  be  broken?  I  could  but  feel  that  the  perfec- 
tion of  earthly  bliss  has  woes  almost  too  great  to  endure. 

We  gather  that  the  expected  answer  from  the  parents  of 
the  young  lady  at  Hartford  was  favorable  to  the  writer, 
as  they  were  married  on  the  thirty-first  of  the  next  month 
(August),  in  that  city,  Rev.  William  W.  Turner,  so  long 
principal  of  the  asylum  for  the  insane,  officiating.1  So 
happily  closed  this  part  of  his  preparation  for  the  ministry, 
and  so  happily  began  a  helpful  and  blessed  wedded  life  of 
more  than  half  a  century.  The  same  day  they  started  for 
New  Haven,  and  on  arriving,  the  young  bride  was  taken 
to  the  College  Campus  to  see  the  place  of  her  husband's 
education.  At  the  entrance  they  met  Flavel  Bascom,  of 
the  class  of  '28,  now  senior  in  theology,  who  the  next  year 
became  a  college  tutor.  Observing  his  friend's  glance 
from  his  rugged  frame  to  the  slight  and  gentle  figure  by 
his  side,  the  husband  of  a  few  hours  said,  with  a  charac- 
teristic smile :  "  You  see,  Brother  B ,  she  is  a  pocket 

edition  !  " 

1  Principal  Turner,  "Deacon  Turner,"  in  later  years,  graduated  at  Yale,  1819,  and 
long  survived  them,  dying  June  11, 1887,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven. 


IX. 

EARLY  ILLINOIS   AND   EARLY  QTJINCY. 

Mr.  Turner  had  been  licensed  to  preach  by  the  South 
Association  of  Litchfield  County,  Conn.,  at  Woodbury, 
August  25,  1829,  and  unanimously  recommended  "  to  the 
improvement  of  the  churches  wherever  God  in  his  provi- 
dence shall  call  him."  The  license  was  for  four  years. 
Whether  the  young  preacher  was  to  be  improved  by  the 
churches,  or  the  churches  by  him,  may  admit  of  a  ques- 
tion. Whether  providence  called  him  is  clearer.  He 
was  ordained  at  New  Haven,  September  6,  1830,  by  the 
New  Haven  West  Association,  Rev.  George  C.  Beckwith, 
of  Cincinnati,  long  Secretary  of  the  American  Peace 
Society,  Boston,  preaching  the  sermon.  September  14, 
he  started  for  New  York,  Cincinnati,  and  Illinois,  buying 
a  horse  and  carriage  at  Cincinnati.  They  were  two 
months,  less  nine  days,  on  the  journey.  In  1819  Enoch 
Long,  Esq.,  was  two  months  and  three  days  from  Hopkin- 
ton,  N.  H.,  to  Alton,  111.  When  Mr.  Turner's  class-mate, 
Rev.  Albert  Hale,  made  the  journey,  his  friends  told  him 
that  the  railroad  ride  from  Albany  to  Schenectady  "would 
probably  be  the  only  opportunity  he  would  ever  have  of 
seeing  a  railway-train."  He  has  now  lived  nearly  half  a 
century  in  a  great  Illinois  railroad  center.  The  writer 
was  five  weeks,  in  1844,  reaching  Dubuque,  Iowa,  from 
New  York  City. 

Mr.  Turner,  on  his  way  West,  preached  at  Schenectady, 
passed  a  Sabbath  at  Buffalo,  preached  at  Dover,  Ohio,  at 
Hanover,  Ind.,  and  Lawrenceville,  111.,  "the  first  Presby- 


72  ASA    TURNEB. 

terian  "  preacher  at  the  latter  place.     The  Ohio  River  was 
often  so  low  as  to  arrest  autumn  travel. 

"Quincy,  Adams  County,  111.,  we  reached  November  5, 
in  what  now  seems  peril  by  land  and  water,  as  we  were 
entire  strangers  to  the  country.  We  forded  every  stream, 
with  one  exception ; '  that  is,  between  Cincinnati  and 
Quincy.  "  The  streams  were  very  low.  The  day  previous 
to  the  night  we  reached  Quincy,  we  had  passed  over  a 
large  prairie  which  was  on  fire  on  each  side  of  the  road. 
On  our  approach  to  Quincy,  we  were  to  go  through  a  strip 
of  timber  which  was  also  on  fire,  making  it  dangerous  to 
pass,  as  trees  on  fire  were  falling  on  each  side.  We  did 
not  know  how  far  we  were  from  a  habitation,  but  we 
succeeded  in  getting  through  safely." 

Another  pioneer  observes  that  "  the  risks  of  such  a 
journey  by  a  couple  who  knew  nothing  of  pioneering,  in 
a  country  fearfully  new,  in  parts  of  which  they  were  out 
of  sight  of  timber  and  of  every  trace  of  human  existence, 
except  the  immigrant  trail,  were  not  small." 

"  We  stopped  at  Mr.  Rufus  Brown's  (in  Quincy)  the 
first  few  days.  His  house  was  a  small  one  at  the  side  of 
the  Log  Tavern.  Saturday  there  was  a  horse-race  among 
those  who  came  into  town  from  the  country.  The  next 
day  I  preached  in  the  log  court-house." 

Preparing  the  mind  of  an  Iowa  missionary,  a  dozen 
years  later,  for  a  scanty  hearing,  he  said :  "  Fourteen 
condescended  to  be  my  hearers.  It  was  a  beautiful 
Sabbath.  If  you  find  congregations  of  thirty,  forty,  or 
perhaps  fifty,  you  may  consider  yourself  honored." 
J  Such  was  the  entrance  of  the  Yale  graduate  and  his 
refined  —  I  can  not  add  shrinking  or  dispirited  —  young 
bride  into  their  home  and  work.  What  was  Quincy  then, 
in  the  fall  of  1830,  and  what  was  Illinois  ? 

Though   its  first  county,   St.  Clair,  was    organized    in 


EARLY  ILLINOIS  AND  EABLY  QUINCY.  73 

1794,  the  territory  did  not  become  a  state  till  1818 
—  with  fifteen  counties ;  and  within  two  }^ears  after,  nine 
new  counties  had  been  organized.  By  1824  a  good  many 
more  had  been  established;  yet  Sangamon  County 
embraced  almost  all  "  Northern  Illinois,"  and  its  settle- 
ments ceased  twenty  miles  above  Springfield.  In  1800 
there  were  about  two  thousand  souls  in  what  is  now  the 
state ;  in  1809  it  had  been  carved  out  of  the  Indiana 
portion  of  the  old  North-west  Territory ;  the  next  year 
it  had  12,382  inhabitants,  and  ten  years  later,  55,211.  In 
ten  years  more  the  population  had  increased  to  157,447. 

A  few  sparse  settlements  were  scattered  over  the 
southern  part  of  the  "  Military  Tract,"  and  to  the 
north  were  little  groups  of  settlers,  "  sometimes  a 
hundred  miles  apart,  along  the  Mississippi."  Substan- 
tially, till  our  young  missionaries  reached  the  territory 
of  twelve  years  of  age,  the  Illinois,  the  Rock  River,  and 
the  Fox  still  coursed  through  an  unbroken  wilderness. 
There  were  trackless  solitudes  between  the  Kaskaskia, 
the  Ohio,  and  the  Wabash.  A  year  or  two  later  a 
young  New  England  scholar  returning  to  "lone  Michi- 
gan, with  the  blazed  trees,  the  trail  of  the  savage,  the 
sun  and  stars,  or  the  resin-weed  and  mosses  for  a  guide," 
saw  "  verdant  and  flowering  immensities,  presenting  from 
St.  Louis  to  Chicago  a  magnificent  panorama  of  prairie, 
belted  with  wood-fringed  streams,  and  embosomed  with 
groves  broidered  and  perfumed  with  the  haw,  the  red-bud, 
the  wild  apple  and  wild  rose.  We  seemed,"  he  said,  w  as 
if  wandering  through  Paradise  after  the  expulsion.  Its 
profound  and  boundless  silence  and  solitude  awed  and 
oppressed  us  so  much  that  —  as  in  the  rhyme  of  The 
Ancient  Mariner  —  we  almost  felt 

We  were  the  first  that  ever  burst 
Into  that  silent  sea. 


74  ASA    TUBNEB. 

Between  us  and  the  Pacific  Seas  were  only  these  awful 
spaces,  vacant  by  repulsion  between  two  races,  and  the 
virgin  mold  for  new  worlds."  1 

The  Winnebago  War  on  the  Wisconsin  River  had 
repressed  immigration  in  that  direction.  It  was  not  till 
after  the  Black  Hawk  War  (1831-32)  and  the  treaty  with 
the  Pottawatomies  at  Fort  Dearborn  (1833)  that  the  lands 
north  of  the  Illinois  and  in  Southern  Wisconsin  were  open 
to  settlement.  The  whole  region  below  still  went  to  New 
Orleans  to  market.  St.  Louis,  with  some  ten  thousand 
people,  was  still  in  such  relations  to  a  near  rival  in  Illinois 
of  lesser  destiny  that  letters  were  directed  to  "  St.  Louis, 
near  Alton." 

A  few  towns  had  started.  "  Peoria,"  says  Governor 
Reynolds  in  "  My  Own  Times,"  "  is  the  most  ancient 
settlement  west  of  the  Alleghanies."  La  Salle's  trading- 
post  and  fort  (Creve-Cceur)  of  1680,  and  its  successor  of 
1781  (La  Ville  de  Maillet),  had  been  succeeded  by  Fort 
Clark.  Small  steamers  occasionally  ventured  so  far  up 
the  Illinois  River.  Cahokia  in  the  previous  century  and 
Kaskaskia  (1707)  had  not  yet  lost  their  ancient  precedence. 
"  There  were  but  few  settlements  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  state."  Cairo's  dream  of  rivaling  New  Orleans  had 
begun ;  for  "  La  Belle  Riviere '  there  enters  the  Father 
of  Waters.  As  to  a  greater  city  where  the  Indian  stream 
"  Checagou  "  entered  the  lake,  this  was  not  even  a  dream. 
The  first  commissioners  for  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal 
organized  to  lay  out  towns  along  its  route  and  at  its  termini 
in  1829,  and  about  the  time  our  missionaries  left  Connecti- 
cut the  first  map  for  a  city  on  the  lake  was  made.  A  year 
later  there  were  but  a  dozen  families  about  Fort  Dearborn. 
In  1833  twenty-eight  voters  organized  Chicago,  and  the 
first  charter  was  not  till   1837.      The  people  depended 

1  Rev.  F.  M.  Post,  d.d.,  Oration  at  Iowa  College,  July,  1856. 


EABLY  ILLINOIS  AND  EABLY  QUINCY.  75 

upon  Ohio  for  flour.  Far  away  southward  near  the  old 
French  towns  was  yet  the  capital.  Springfield  "  in  1824," 
says  Mr.  Cartwright,  had  "a  few  smoky,  hastily  built 
cabins,  and  one  or  two  very  little  shanties  called  stores. 
I  could  have  carried  all  they  had  for  sale  on  my  back." 
In  1828  the  log  dwellings  numbered  twenty-six.  Spring- 
field is  now  the  fourth  city  of  an  empire  state,  but  it  was 
seven  years  after  Mr.  Turner  came  to  Quincy  before  it 
became  the  capital,  and  eleven  before  it  was  incorporated. 
The  village  of  Quincy,  then  eight  years  old,  had  attained 
to  a  library  association.  But  between  these  incipient 
cities  of  Illinois  there  were  hardly  roads,  bridges,  or 
ferries.  At  La  Pointe  on  the  River  Le  Fdvre  lead- 
mining  had  forced  Galena  —  a  hundred  houses  —  into 
being ;  but  it  was  reached  by  occasional  steamers.  On 
the  Iowa  bank  there  were  no  signs  of  the  occupancy  of 
civilized  man. 

On  the  tenth  of  February,  1820,  two  young  men  — 
Mr.  Willard  Keyes,  who  had  reached  the  Mississippi  at 
Prairie  Du  Chien  in  1817,  and  Mr.  John  Wood,  afterward 
lieutenant-governor  of  Illinois  — "  concluded  to  locate 
temporarily  about  fifty  miles  north  of  civilization,"  on 
what  became  known  as  Keyes'  Creek.  In  1821  they  had 
bought  for  sixty  dollars  a  claim  of  one  Flynn,  an  Irishman, 
to  the  site  of  Quincy  —  Mr.  Wood  walking  to  Alton,  a 
hundred  and  twenty  miles,  to  make  the  bargain.  The 
first  house  was  built  without  nails  or  sawed  lumber ;  the 
first  white  woman  and  child  came  in  1822 ;  in  Mr.  Keyes' 
cabin  the  first  courts  met,  with  the  portico  for  a  jury-room. 
The  first  elections  were  held  with  an  old  tea-pot  for  a 
ballot-box ;  in  1826  the  first  store  was  opened  and  a  log 
court-house  built,  where  our  home  missionary  preached 
his  first  sermon,  four  years  after ;  in  1829  the  first  frame- 
building  was  erected ;  and,  meantime,  as  the  county  seat 


76  ASA    TURNER. 

of  Morgan  County  had  been  named  Jacksonville,  for  one 
candidate  for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  the 
new  county  was  named  Adams,  and  its  shire  town, 
Quincy,  for  the  other.1 

1  Rev.  E.  Anderson,  Historical  Sermon,  March,  1879. 


X. 

THE  PEOPLE  AND  THEIB  PREACHERS. 

What  was  the  intellectual  and  religious  condition  of 
those  to  whom  New  England  had  sent  these  young 
servants  of  Christ? 

The  make-up  of  the  people  could  hardly  have  been 
more  heterogeneous.  Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne  says  in  his 
valuable  Sketch  of  Governor  Edward  Coles :  "  The 
earliest  inhabitants  were  French  Canadians  and  emigrants 
from  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  North  Carolina."  The 
contribution  from  Kentucky  he  pronounces  "  by  far  the 
best,"  while  "the  North  Carolina  emigration  was  mostly 
4  poor  whites.'  There  was  much  ignorance  and  shiftless- 
ness,  combined  with  an  intense  prejudice  against  all 
people  from  Free  States,  whom  they  called  'Yankees.'" 

Between  1804  and  1822  there  had  been,  according  to 
Governor  Reynolds,  arrivals  of  Irish,  English,  German, 
and  Swiss  colonies.  Some  "Pennsylvania  Dutch"  also 
came  early.  The  first  towns  at  the  south  and  east  and 
on  the  American  bottom  were  French.  Lands  were  held 
there  by  French  tenure,  cultivated  in  common  fields  of 
thousands  of  acres.  In  1818  the  French  were  reckoned 
at  one  fourth  of  the  population.  They  were  the  river 
flat-boat  men,  and  the  first  steamboat  hands  when  flat- 
boats  disappeared.  In  1870  the  southern  born  people  had 
fallen  to  nine  per  cent. ;  in  Illinois  to  ten.  In  1830  the 
percentage  was  very  much  greater  in  a  much  smaller 
total. 

Into  the  northern  counties   came  enterprising  persons 


78  ASA    TUBNEB. 

from  New  England,  New  York,  and  Ohio,  —  commonly- 
young,  —  and  every-where  these  were  mingled  with  sturdy 
settlers  from  the  Middle  States  and  the  South.  In  Fulton 
County,  above  the  Illinois  River,  in  1828,  it  was  estimated 
by  Rev.  J.  M.  Ellis  that  "  half  the  people  were  from  New 
England  and  New  York."  This  was  doubtless,  if  true, 
an  exception.  Fulton  and  Adams  were  organized  the 
same  year. 

Down  to  1835  a  large  part  of  the  male  settlers  every- 
where—  even  in  towns  —  were  hunters.  They  had  no 
farm  machinery.  Wild  game  and  even  elks  and  buffaloes 
were  then  numerous,  "  and  bees  in  all  the  forests."  As 
game  decreased,  the  usual  seeking  of  new  frontiers  went 
on.  Improvements  and  land-titles  were  uncertain.  The 
unsettled  character  of  private  and  public  affairs  told  upon 
morals. 

There  were  no  common  schools,  of  necessity.  Not  till 
the  influence  of  the  North-eastern  States  became  stronger 
far  was  a  system  even  attempted,  and  then  with  much 
opposition  from  immigrants  whose  origin  was  Southern  or 
European.  In  1888  the  commonwealth  enrolled  738,737 
common-school  pupils.  But  as  late  as  1844,  the  writer, 
on  arriving  in  the  state,  was  informed  by  the  chairman 
of  the  committee  of  the  Legislature  on  education  that  the 
school  laws  could  not  be  executed  on  account  of  self- 
contradictory  provisions.  Eleven  years  later,  Reynolds' 
History  notes  the  extreme  difficulty  of  devising  any  system, 
and  the  inauguration  of  lectures  to  inform  the  people 
and  render  one  feasible.  The  various  immigrants  had 
such  discord  of  opinion  on  the  subject  that  "  laws  could 
not  be  enacted  to  please  the  masses."  From  the  first  there 
had  been  a  few  private  schools,  "  kept  up  solely  by  sub- 
scription and  only  in  the  winter  season."  This  was  one 
ground    of  objection  to    school   taxes.      "  Many   parents 


THE  PEOPLE  AXD    THE  IB   PBEACHEBS.  79 

were  unwilling  that  their  children  should  study  arithmetic 
as  quite  unnecessary  for  farmers.  And  what  was  the  use 
of  grammar  to  a  person  who  could  talk  so  as  to  be 
understood  by  every  body?  '  Lessons  were  studied  aloud 
simultaneously.  Each  scholar  recited  alone.  The  only 
persons  of  respectable  education  in  the  villages  were 
professional  men.  Lawyers  and  even  judges  made  gross 
blunders  often  in  public.  Physicians  did  no  better. 
When  a  lieutenant-governor  was  married  his  wife  taught 
him  to  read  and  write.  He  was  a  Baptist  preacher  before 
his  election.  "  Manv  anti-mission  ministers  could  not 
speak  three  sentences  together  without  violating  the 
most  familiar  rules  of  grammar."  The  preachers  often 
made  gross  blunders  in  reading  the  Bible  in  public.  One 
in  a  southern  county  "  preached  for  months  from  a  few 
leaves  of  an  old  Bible.  Some  person  afterward  gave 
him  a  whole  one.  Another  preached  on  one  occasion 
from  the  text  in  Revelation  respecting  the  man  who  had 
a  pair  of  balances  in  his  hand,  and  read  it,  4  who  had  a 
pair  of  belloivses  in  his  hand,'  with  which,  he  said,  4  the 
wicked  would  finally  be  blown  into  perdition.'  "  The 
name  of  the  capital,  Vandalia,  was  suggested  by  a  wag 
in  the  Legislature  at  Kaskaskia,  who  asserted  that  the 
Vandals  were  an  extinct  tribe  of  Indians.1  Governor 
Ford  and  others  relate  that  the  Illinois  and  Lake  Michigan 
Canal  was  at  first  opposed  for  two  grave  reasons :  —  (1) 
It  would  flood  the  state  with  Yankees ;  (2)  the  channel 
would  enlarge  and  sweep  away  the  soil  of  the  common- 
wealth. Hon.  W.  H.  Brown,  an  early  resident  of 
Vandalia,  describes  the  "  poor  whites  '  from  the  South 
as  "credulous,  ignorant,  and  prejudiced.  The  father  had 
lived  and  died  without  the  knowledge  of  letters,  and  why 
should   not   the   son  ?      And   as   to    the    daughter,  —  the 

1  Dr.  R.  W.  Patterson,  Early  Society  in  Southern  Illinois. 


80  ASA    TUBNEB. 

mother  reproduced,  —  her  accomplishments  commenced 
with  dropping  corn  in  the  spring,  and  ended  in  wearing 
linsey-woolsey  in  the  fall,  the  article  of  dress  for  both 
sexes." 

The  resistance  of  uneducated  preachers  among  such 
people  to  the  coming  in  of  educated  ones,  sixty  or 
seventy  years  ago,  is  mournfully  manifest  from  the  facts 
stated  in  such  books  as  Governor  Ford's  Historv,  and 
the  invectives  of  Rev.  Peter  Cartwright's  Autobiography. 
The  former  says  that  the  jealousy  and  bad-feeling  rose  to 
real  persecution  at  times.  Of  this  the  new  men,  however, 
took  little  notice,  "  and  rapidly  succeeded  in  forming  con- 
gregations, organizing  churches,  and  building  places  of 
worship,  and  now  at  this  day  it  is  apparent  that  both 
sorts  of  preachers  were  needed."  Cartwright  never  tires 
of  inveighing  against  colleges  and  Biblical  institutes  :  he 
predicts  that  if  these  multiply  among  Methodists  there 
will  be  "  a  plunge  right  into  Congregationalism,  farewell 
to  itinerancy,"  etc. ;  and  declares  that  "  the  illiterate 
Methodist  preachers  actually  set  the  world  on  fire  while 
[others]  were  lighting  their  matches.  New  School 
preachers "  he  stigmatized  as  mere  readers  of  manu- 
scripts. "  They  were  generally  tolerably  well  furnished 
with  old  manuscript  sermons  that  had  been  preached  or 
written  perhaps  a  hundred  years  before  [ !  ].  Some  of 
these  sermons  they  had  memorized,"  etc.  As  the  fiery 
Methodist  pioneer  and  Mr.  Turner  were  fellow-townsmen 
at  Quincy,  this  was  leveled  largely  at  him,  but  as  he  never 
memorized,  and  was  ready  without  notes,  it  did  not  dis- 
compose him.  Of  the  first  Presbyterian  sent  to  Springfield 
Cartwright  records :  "  He  was  a  very  well-educated  man, 
and  had  regularly  studied  theology  in  the  Eastern  States, 
where  they  manufacture  young  preachers  like  they  do 
lettuce  in  hot-houses."     The  Methodists  had  in  the  West 


THE  PEOPLE  AND    THEIR   PREACHERS.  81 


"  two  hundred  and  eighty  traveling  preachers,  and  not  a 
single  literary  man  among  them." 

According  to  Peck's  Illinois  Gazetteer,  in  1835  one 
seventh  or  one  eighth  of  the  new  settlers  in  Illinois 
were  members  of  churches,  —  of  all  sorts,  —  yet  a 
preacher  in  Bond  County,  anticipating  the  Rev.  John 
Jasper  of  to-day,  contended,  against  school-bred  people 
from  the  East,  that  if  the  earth  actually  revolved  upon 
its  axis,  "We  should  all  fall  off  and  go  nobody  knows 
where."  * 

Evidently  the  Illinois  Association  and  College  were 
among  the  necessaries  of  life  to  the  state. 

But  prejudices  against  them  were  inevitable.  Mr. 
Turner  wrote  to  New  York,  July,  1831  :  "  A  large 
part  of  the  sermons  of  a  certain  class  of  preachers  is 
made  up  of  railing  against  Presbyterianism  and  the 
benevolent  enterprises  of  the  day."  A  Boston  layman 
at  Jacksonville,  J.  G.  Edwards,  wrote  that,  in  1829  and 
for  some  time  after,  the  prejudices  of  many  against 
Sabbath-schools,  temperance  societies,  colleges,  mission- 
ary and  benevolent  enterprises  generally,  and  Presby- 
terians in  particular,  were  of  the  strongest  kind."  Dr. 
Patterson,  a  native  of  Southern  Illinois,  testifies  that  "  the 
quiet  manner  of  the  educated  preachers  exposed  them  to 
the  ridicule  of  many  illiterate  people  who  could  not 
believe  that  a  speaker  was  in  earnest  unless  he  declaimed 
in  the  most  violent  manner." 

1  Dr.  Patterson. 


XL 


HOME   MISSIONARY  BEGINNINGS. 

The  first  religious  explorers  west  of  the  Lakes  were, 
of  course,  Catholics.  But  Marquette,  in  1673,  and  his 
successors  hardly  tarried  at  all.  In  1850  there  were  in 
Illinois  29,000  persons  of  their  faith.  A  good  many 
Protestants,  however,  had  by  this  time  given  society 
permanence  and  other  desirable  qualities. 

A  Kentucky  Baptist  was  the  first  (1787)  Protestant 
preacher,  Rev.  James  Smith,  in  St.  Clair  County,  at  New 
Design,  the  oldest  town.  Then  in  1793  a  Kentucky  Metho- 
dist, Rev.  Joseph  Lillard,  who  formed  in  this  old  county 
the  first  "  class."  Then  next  year,  Rev.  Josiah  Dodge,  a 
Connecticut  Baptist. 

The  first  Protestant  church  was  organized  1796  at  New 
Design  by  Rev.  David  Badgley,  a  Virginia  Baptist.  The 
same  year  came  Rev.  Hosea  Riggs,  Methodist ;  the  next 
year  "  Father  "  John  Clark,  Baptist,  from  South  Carolina. 

The  first  Methodist  circuit  rider  was  Rev.  Benjamin 
Young,  1804.  Rev.  Thomas  Harrison,  also  a  Methodist 
preacher,  came  the  same  year,  and  Dr.  Joseph  Oglesby  — 
probably  a  physician  and  local  preacher  —  the  next  year. 
Rev.  William  Jones,  Baptist,  and  Rev.  Jesse  Walker, 
Methodist,  came  in  1806 ;  Rev.  Charles  R.  Matheny  and 
Bishop  McKendree  in  1807 ;  Rev.  John  Clingan  in  1808. 

Some  Cumberland  Presbyterians  appeared  in  1816  ;  a 
Covenanter,  Rev.  Samuel  Wylie,  and  Rev.  John  Mathews, 
an  Eastern  Presbyterian,  in  1817,  with  Dr.  John  M.  Peck, 
Baptist,  the  first  minister  reputed  to  be  learned.     Ten 


HOME  MISSIONARY  BEGINNINGS.  83 

years  before  five  Baptist  churches  had  formed  themselves 
into  an  association.  Twelve  years  before  two  Presbyterian 
preachers  had  found  a  small  flock  east  of  Kaskaskia,  to 
which  Mr.  Wylie  now  ministered.  His  predecessors,  of 
unknown  names,  went  elsewhere,  as  indeed,  in  those 
roving  and  exploring  days,  did  those  of  other  denomina- 
tions ;  Rev.  Jesse  Walker,  for  example,  gathering  the  first 
Methodist  congregation  in  St.  Louis  as  well  as  Chicago. 
Some  laymen  became  preachers :  James  Lemen,  at  New 
Design,  1786,  and  Joseph  Chance,  who  preached  till  his 
death,  in  1840.  In  1818  Rev.  Deacon  Smith,  Baptist, 
came  from  Maine. 

Congregationalists,  meantime,  had  sent  out  explorers. 
They  were  all  educated  men.  Five  years  before  Mr. 
Mathews  came,  —  who  in  1822  was  the  only  Presby- 
terian, and  soon  after  left,  —  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Mills,  of 
Connecticut,  "the  father  of  foreign  missions,"  a  graduate 
of  Williams  and  Andover,  had  formed  a  Bible  society  at 
Shawneetown,  and  three  years  before  one  at  Kaskaskia. 
Mr.  Mathews  returned,  and  was  stationed  at  Kaskaskia 
when  Mr.  Turner  arrived  at  Quincy,  the  oldest  Presby- 
terian minister.  No  Congregationalist,  however,  at  that 
day  settled  in  Illinois,  and  if  he  had  would  doubtless  have 
become  a  Presbyterian.  So  did  Rev.  Solomon  Giddings, 
of  St.  Louis,  from  Andover,  who  organized  eight  Presby- 
terian churches  after  1816 ;  Rev.  Elbridge  G.  Howe,  Rev. 
David  Tenney,  and  Rev.  John  M.  Ellis  joining  their  labors 
to  his  on  the  Illinois  side  of  the  river.  All  four  were 
Andover  graduates.1     Of  some  twenty  men  sent  West  by 

xMr.  Tenney  had  graduated  in  1818  (at  Harvard  three  years  before).  He  was 
ordained  Presbyterially  at  Newbury,  Mass.,  that  year.  Born  1787  at  Bradford,  he 
died  1819  at  Shoal  Creek,  111.,  on  the  field.  Mr.  Howe  graduated  at  Andover,  1824 
(at  Brown  University  three  years  before),  and  was  born  two  years  after  Mr. 
Tenney,  at  Paxton,  Mass.,  and  ordained  Congregationally  at  South  Wilbraham,  1824. 
His  other  places  of  labor  were  Southwick,  Halifax,  and  East  Marshfield,  Mass.; 
Will,  Lake,  and  McHenry  counties,  111.;  Waukegan,  111.,  and  Paxton,  Mass.  (1873). 


84  ASA    TUBNEB. 

various  societies  down  to  1826,  when  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society  was  founded,  most  were  employed  for 
a  short  time  only,  three  had  had  two  States  each  for  a 
field,  and  two  were  commissioned  for  "  the  United  States 
west  of  the  Alleghanies." 1  The  new  national  society 
found  but  two  men  to  be  handed  over  to  it,  Messrs.  Howe 
and  Ellis,  both  sent  originally  to  the  ancient  capital, 
Kaskaskia.  The  latter,  then  at  Jacksonville,  was  the 
correspondent  and  counselor  of  the  Illinois  Association 
at  Yale  in  1829-30.  John  Brick  and  Stephen  Bliss, 
"farmer-preachers,"  are  also  named  as.  in  missionary 
work,  for  a  time. 

There  were  also  Christian  men  entirely  in  secular 
life  who  were  invaluable  helpers  of  home  missionaries. 
Thomas  Lippincott,  a  merchant,  secretary  of  the  state 
senate  in  1822-23,  in  later  years  a  useful  minister, 
organized  the  first  Sabbath-school  in  the  infant  state, 
1819,  at  Milton,  two  miles  east  of  Alton,  with  ten  or 
twelve  scholars.  Enoch  Long,  an  influential  business 
man,  started  the  second  one  the  next  year  at  Upper 
Alton,  with  forty  scholars.  The  former  school  closed 
with  Mr.  Lippincott's  removal.  The  latter  is  continued 
still.  James  G.  Edwards  came  to  Jacksonville  ten  years 
after  Deacon  Long  came  to  Alton,  in  company  with  Rev. 
Messrs.  Baldwin  and  Sturtevant  (1829),  and  was,  with 
his  excellent  wife,  prominent  in  Sunday-school,  temper- 
ance, church,  and  revival  work.  Another  useful  layman, 
Elder  H.  H.  Snow,  a  helper  of  Deacon  Long  at  Alton, 
and  then  of  Mr.  Turner  at  Quincy,  wrote  from  the  latter 
place,  March  15,  1830,  to  Dr.  Absalom  Peters,  New 
York  :  — 

Mr.  Ellis  graduated  at  Andover,  1825  fat  Dartmouth  three  years  before) ,  and  was 
ordained  Congregationally  at  Boston  in  September.     Besides  his  agencies  he 
preached  at  Jacksonville,  111.,  Grass  Lake,  Mich.,  and  East  Hanover,  N.  H.    Born 
at  Keene,  N.  H.,  four  years  after  Mr.  Howe,  he  died  1855  at  Nashua,  N.  H. 
1  Dr.  J.  E.  Roy,  in  New  Englander,  1876. 


HOME  MISSIONARY  BEGINNINGS.  85 

"  This  village  has  been  settled  four  years,  and  now 
contains  a  population  of  about  four  hundred  souls.  Till 
lately  we  have  never  seen  a  Presbyterian  preacher  in  the 
place.  More  recently  we  have  had  preaching  six  times  in 
the  course  of  eighteen  months.  We  are  now  destitute. 
Our  people  are  new  settlers,  mostly  from  New  England, 
and  have  little  money ;  but  provisions  of  every  kind  are 
abundant  and  cheap.  If  we  could  get  a  preacher  possess- 
ing a  missionary  spirit,  with  a  small  family,  who  would  be 
willing  to  settle  here  and  become  one  of  us,  we  could  give 
him  a  farm  and  cultivate  it  for  him,  and  support  him  well, 
with  a  fair  prospect  of  not  leaving  his  family  destitute. 
.  .  .  The  population  of  the  county  doubles  every  twelve 
months." 

That  year,  of  six  men  commissioned  at  New  York,  one 
was  appointed  "  to  the  Western  Reserve  or  Illinois,"  and 
another  was  "  Rev.  Asa  Turner,  Jr.,  to  go  to  Illinois." 
He  had  expressed  a  preference  for  Quincy,  but  his  desti- 
nation was  to  be  decided  upon  by  consultation  with  Rev. 
Theron  Baldwin  and  others  on  the  ground.  Mr.  Ellis 
said  that  the  new  state  needed  fifteen  or  twenty  more 
men.  Dr.  J.  G.  Bergen,  then  at  Springfield,  wrote  of  the 
"  upper  counties " :  "  Five  years  ago  we  had  but  one 
minister  in  the  state ;  now  we  have  fifteen,  and  the 
number  ought  to  be  doubled."  It  is  impossible  to  give 
any  sketch  of  what  other  bodies  of  Christians  were  doing 
to  keep  step  with  advancing  population.  The  Methodists 
were  characteristically  active.  They  had  depended  much 
upon  camp-meetings  for  growth  in  all  respects,  from  the 
holding  of  the  first  ones  at  Shiloh,  near  Edwardsville,  in 
1807  by  Bishop  McKendree.  Cartwright,  who  came  from 
Kentucky  in  1824,  and  presided  in  1826  over  a  district 
(Sangamon)  four  hundred  miles  long,  and  in  1828  over 
one  six  hundred  miles  long,  namely,  from  the  mouth  of 


86  ASA    TUBNEB. 

the  Ohio  to  Galena,  made  great  use  of  them.  He  was  at 
Quincy  before  Mr.  Turner.  In  1832  his  (Quincy)  district 
ran  from  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River  northward  into 
Wisconsin. 

The  first  letter  from  Mrs.  Turner  at  Quincy  was  dated 
December  9,  1830. 

My  Dear  Sister  E.,  —  A  letter  from  you  about  two  weeks 
since  is  all  I  have  had  since  I  left  Hartford.  I  recollect  that  it 
takes  four  weeks  for  a  letter  from  here  and  about  Jive  for  an 
answer.  I  find  matter  enough  to  fill  one  of  the  large  sheets 
weekly.  Two  weeks  we  have  been  keeping  house,  and  I  find 
little  time  for  any  thing  else.  I  clamber  up  two  flights  of  stairs 
from  the  kitchen  to  my  room  in  the  second  story.  I  am  "  power- 
fully weak"  after  having  "  toted"  pots,  kettles,  etc.  etc. 

December  22. —  Our  goods  arrived  here  on  the  tenth  of  this 
month.  We  had  almost  given  them  up  as  lost,  as  we  heard  that 
a  steamboat  lately  sank  in  the  Mississippi.      I  went  with  Mr. 

Turner  to  Rushville  and  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  J and 

M ,  Mr.  O ,  and  W .    We  found  quite  an  Eastern  circle. 

You  may  imagine  that  we  are  pretty  closely  packed  in  with  our 
"  things."  We  have  but  one  room  for  sitting-room,  bedroom, 
study,  kitchen,  and  daily.  We  have  in  it  our  best  bureau,  two 
tables,  three  trunks,  six  chairs,  two  medicine-chests,  two  writing- 
desks,  cupboard  in  one  corner,  and  several  other  pieces  of  furni- 
ture, besides  our  bedstead.  Husband  says  sometimes:  "Oh, 
dear !  I  wish  I  could  get  out  of  the  kitchen."  I  find  that  he  is  so 
well  acquainted  with  domestic  affairs  that  I  am  constantly  calling 
upon  him  to  tell  me  how  to  do  this  and  that  thing.  He  has,  I 
suspect,  become  rather  wearied,  and  now  he  says  to  every  thing : 
"  Do  just  as  you  please,  my  dear."  However,  we  hope  to  have  a 
room  which  he  can  use  for  a  study  by  spring.  .  .  .  There  were  but 
three  or  four  articles  of  crockery  broken ;  our  best  bureau  some- 
what injured;  the  top  came  off,  but  was  immediately  repaired. 
Your  motive  in  filling  our  medicine-chest  with  rice  was  good, 
and  we  thank  you  for  it,  though  we  can  not  use  it,  as  the  grains 
collected  round  the  bottles  and  we  found  several  broken !  The 
vial  of  sweet  oil  spoiled  the  rice.  I  think  I  feel  grateful  for  all 
the  kindnesses  you  have  all  shown  in  your  exertions  to  provide 
things  not  only  for  my  comfort  but  for  my  pleasure.    I  feel 


HOME  MISSIONARY  BEGINNINGS.  87 

assured  that  you  will  never  want  for  the  temporal  comforts  of 
life.  I  think  it  is  my  daily  prayer  that  you  may  never  want  for 
spiritual  comfort.  .  .  . 

The  thermometer  yesterday  stood  at  nine  below  zero.  We  can 
keep  nothing  from  freezing.  It  is  quite  a  comfort  to  think  such 
weather  continues  but  a  short  time.  We  have  very  short  winters 
but  very  severe.  I  suppose  that  we  have  the  most  comfortable 
room  in  Quincy.  The  gentlemen  find  it  so ;  it  really  seems  as  if 
they  could  not  get  away. 

[Suggestions  follow  about  Hartford  young  ladies  coming  to 
Quincy  to  do  good  in  various  occupations ;  assurances  that  they] 
"  will  make  no  sacrifice  as  to  society.    We  have  as  good  as  that 

to  which  they  have  been  accustomed.    Come  directly  to  Q .    At 

Jacksonville  they  try  to  persuade  every  one  to  stop  there.    They 

have  persuaded  Dr.  R to  stay  there,  though  there  are  five 

physicians  besides  himself.  [Twenty-five  hundred  people  in 
Morgan  County.]  I  have  thought  some  of  our  good  Lehigh 
stoves  to-day.  We  have  plenty  of  wood  which  costs  nothing  but 
the  drawing  of  it  from  the  woods*  (as  Mr.  Turner  cuts  it  himself) , 
but  still  it  is  not  the  comfortable  heat  of  Lehigh.  I  have  a  cow 
which  gives  a  fine  quantity  of  rich  milk,  and  should  be  very  happy 
just  to  put  down  a  few  pounds  of  butter  for  you.  You  smile  at 
the  idea  of  my  making  butter,  but  such  is  the  fact.  It  is  consid- 
erable trouble  to  take  care  of  milk,  particularly  when  frozen,  and 
I  can  not  prevent  this  now. 

Perhaps  you  would  like  to  know  how  I  get  along  in  housekeep- 
ing? Why,  pretty  much  as  you  would  expect  one  so  little 
acquainted  with  domestic  concerns.  I  do  not  intend  to  say  much 
about  myself:  leave  that  to  husband.  We  live  mostly  on  wheat 
batter-cakes  and  corn-dodgers;  now  and  then  I  bake  a  "  pone," 
or  loaf  of  bread.  But  this  I  do  not  much  like ;  you  and  mother 
will  decide  that  it  requires  some  skill  to  make  good  bread  out  of 
bad  flour.  Now  and  then  I  make  milk  toast,  and  we  have  very 
good  coffee  and  tea.    I  live  as  well  as  I  wish  to.    Now,  Miss 

E ,  you  need  make  no  more  sport  of  me  in  my  "  log  cabin." 

I  have  seen  many  which  appeared  very  comfortable,  and  many  in 
which  I  think  I  could  not  live.  Why  I  am  not  compelled  to  live 
in  one  I  know  not.  Some  are  not  shelter  from  wind  or  rain. 
I  think  to  see  them  would  excite  gratitude  to  God  that  he  has 
cast  your  lot  in  our  highly  favored  New  England.  Were  I 
obliged  to  live  in  one  —  and  I  may  yet  —  I  suppose  I  should  be  as 


88  ASA    TUBNER. 

contented  as  I  am  in  my  present  dwelling.  ...  I  hope,  my  dear 
sister,  you  do  not  forget  us  in  your  prayers.  We  need  them 
much,  and  be  assured  that  you  are  daily  remembered.  The  Lord 
bless  you! 

And  now,  my  dear  mother,  what  shall  I  say  to  gladden  your 
heart?  I  think  often,  very  often,  of  you,  and  that  dear  place 
with  which  are  connected  so  many  pleasant  associations.  Some- 
times I  can  not  refrain  from  tears  when  I  think  of  you,  of  all 
your  kindness;  and  now  it  is  out  of  my  power  to  devote  my 
time  and  attention  to  you  in  the  decline  of  life.  Though  these 
reflections  do  make  me  sad  when  I  indulge  in  them,  yet  I  do 
assure  you  I  have  never  regretted  for  a  moment  having  left  home 
and  friends.  I  can  not  realize  at  all  the  distance  which  separates 
us.  It  seems  no  farther  now  than  it  did  when  I  was  at  Boston. 
It  would  gratify  you  to  hear  of  the  prosperity  of  Zion.  Oh,  that 
I  could  tell  you  of  a  revival  of  religion !  I  think  you  will  soon  see 
an  account  of  the  formation  of  a  church,  Sabbath-school,  etc.,  in 
The  Western  Observer.  It  was  for  us  a  most  solemn  and  precious 
occasion.  There  were  fourteen,  excluding  husband  and  myself. 
The  Sabbath-school  is  becoming  more  and  more  interesting.  I 
have  a  class  of  six  intelligent  children.  We  very  much  need  more 
female  teachers.  Do  use  all  your  influence  to  persuade  young 
ladies  to  come  out  here  as  teachers.  I  wish  S.  B.  and  M.  E.  could 
be  persuaded  to  come.    Will  they  not? 

I  wish  you  could  only  see  how  comfortably  we  are  situated ; 
it  would  do  you  good.1  So  different  from  what  we  expected. 
Our  log  cabin  has  proved  to  be  a  frame-house,  nicely  (that  is, 
comparatively)  fitted  up  for  us.  But  still  very  different  from 
houses  in  which  we  have  been  used  to  live.  You  would  doubtless 
like  to  know  how  "  Patty  "  succeeds  in  housekeeping.  Why,  I 
manage  to  keep  all  day  about  it,  and  as  to  the  rest,  husband  will 
give  you  a  sketch.  m.  t. 

[The  missionary's  pen  continues]  :  She  makes  very  good  batter- 
cakes,  tea,  coffee,  and  butter,  and  that  is  all  we  live  on,  except  now 
and  then  a  slice  of  bread.  I  can  say  this  much  in  her  praise  —  she 
is  the  best  cook  I  have  seen  this  side  of  the  mountains,  and  I  would 
not  exchange  my  table  with  the  "  first  livers  "  we  have.  She  has 
made  three  and  a  half  pounds  of  butter,  a  good  "  heap  of  pump- 

*A  lady  friend  at  Jacksonville  is  "pleased  to  learn"  that  "  she  knows  how  to 
accommodate  herself  to  a  residence  in  a  new  country,  so  as  to  be  not  only  con- 
tented  but  happy  under  all  the  inconveniences."  —  December,  1S30,  E.  W. 


HOME  MISSIONARY  BEGINNINGS.  89 

kin  pies,"  and  some  u  powerful  good"  cake.  On  the  whole  she 
is  a  very  good  wife,  worth  all  her  transjjortation,  and  I  consider 
her  a  " right  smart"  woman.  Our  honeymoon  still  lasts,  and  I 
see  no  probability  of  failure  —  for  we  have  " great  chance"  of 
bees  here.  We  are  blessed  with  most  we  need,  a  tolerable  share 
of  contentment,  and,  I  hope,  some  small  desires  to  do  good. 
When  I  have  time  I  will  write  in  some  other  dialect.  Till  then 
be  assured  of  my  affection  and  gratitude.  a.  t. 

It  may  set  off  in  an  interesting  light  this  spirit  of 
Christian  cheerfulness  in  toil  to  add  that,  in  his  applica^ 
tion  to  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  the  young 
husband  had  asked  anxiously  the  year  previous  if  the 
outfit  allowed  aught  for  a  wife's  expenses.  Would  "  it  be 
consistent  to  pay  one  quarter  of  my  salary  in  advance, 
deducting  interest?  It  will  be  very  difficult  for  me  to 
get  to  the  ground  without  this  favor,  unless  I  can  borrow. 
Shall  be  obliged  to  leave  [New  England]  in  debt,  and 
have  no  resources  of   my  own." 

His  commission  pledged  "  ninety  dollars  outfit  and  four 
hundred  dollars  for  the  year,  including  such  sums  as  you 
may  receive  from  the  people  to  whom  you  may  minister." 
Dr.  Charles  Hall,  Secretary,  added,  with  his  wonted  grace  : 
"  Our  obligations,  our  cares,  our  toils  are  great ;  so  also 
will  yours  be ;  but  not  greater  than  the  faithfulness  of 
our  heavenly  Father,  to  whom  we  may  mutually  commend 
each  other  and  the  interests  of  our  common  cause." 

Six  months  after  the  missionary  wrote :  "  I  owe  more 
than  half  a  year's  salary.  I  have  lived  just  as  prudently 
as  possible,  but  almost  every  thing  purchased  has  been 
very  high.  I  could  live  in  New  York  in  the  same  style 
cheaper  than  in  Quincy." 

Two  years  later,  u  money  was  very  scarce,  and  honey, 
beeswax,  and  coon-skins  were  next  in  value  as  currency. 
The  country  was  not  yet  producing  the  bread  and  meat 


90  ASA    TUBNEB. 

required  for  the  inhabitants.  Flour  and  bacon  were 
brought  from  Ohio  and  Kentucky;  fruits,  and  even 
common  vegetables,  were  only  to  be  obtained  in  the  same 
way,  and  generally  dispensed  with."  The  people  of  the 
town  "  lived  mostly  in  log  cabins  scattered  over  a  town 
plat  half  a  mile  square,  densely  covered  by  sumac  and 
hazel  bushes,  with  some  native  forest  trees,  some  patches 
of  prairie,  and  some  open  ground  cleared  by  the  settlers." 1 

1  Letter  of  L.  Bull,  Es 


XII. 

A   PIONEER   PASTORATE. 

No  one  who  has  once  passed  through  the  experience 
himself  can  ever  forget  the  cares,  the  toils,  the  solicitudes, 
the  hopes,  the  joys  attending  the  gathering  of  his  first 
church  in  a  new  settlement.  The  diversity  of  Christian 
materials,  perhaps  the  novel  and  perplexing  questions  that 
arise,  deepen  and  intensify  the  pioneer's  interest.  He 
often  wonders  if  missionary  apostles  met  with  any  thing, 
when  the  Christian  Church  was  new  on  the  earth,  just 
like  what  he  meets  with. 

It  was  not  long  before  Mr.  Turner  was  able  to  organize 
his  converted  hearers.  He  called  to  his  aid  a  native  of 
Illinois,  licensed  to  preach  two  years  before,  and  stationed 
at  Rushville.  The  Quincy  church  records  say  that  a 
Presbyterian  church  was  formed  Saturday,  December  1, 
1830 :  u  present  by  appointment  the  Rev.  Cyrus  L.  Wat- 
son and  the  Rev.  Asa  Turner,  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian 
church."  The  latter  may  still  have  been  a  Congregational 
minister,  as  there  is  no  trace  of  a  meeting  of  Presbytery 
after  November  5,  and  he  reports  attendance  at  Jackson- 
ville the  next  April,  as  if  it  were  his  first  sight  of  Presby- 
terianism.  Fourteen  persons,  giving  satisfactory  Christian 
evidence,  were  "  declared  to  be  a  branch  of  Christ's  visible 
Church,  and  dedicated  to  Him  in  prayer  b}^  Rev.  Asa 
Turner."  Of  these,  one  was  elected  by  themselves  ruling 
elder,  and  in  the  evening  another  was  received  —  fifteen 
in  all;  and  of  these,  says  Mr.  Turner,  "three  Baptists, 
three  Congregationalists,  four  Presbyterians,  and  five 
from  the  world. 


92  ASA    TUBNEB. 

"  And  here  I  must  say  that  I  have  cause  for  gratitude 
to  God  for  my  theological  education.  I  was  always 
taught  to  look  at  the  substance,  and  not  the  shadow  ;  that 
the  opinions  of  all  men  are  fallible  ;  that  all  evangelical 
Christians  are  of  one  heart  and  one  mind  about  every 
thing  very  important  in  religion.  This  has  prepared  me  to 
have  true  fellowship  with  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus.  On 
this  principle  I  formed  the  church.  Three  were  Baptists 
—  one  more,  Baptist  in  sentiment,  I  expect  will  unite 
with  us  next  communion.  Prejudices  strong.  I  talked 
to  them  about  heart-religion,  and  said  nothing  upon 
infant  baptism.  They  requested  to  unite  with  us,  if  they 
could,  and  not  have  their  children  baptized.  They  did 
so." 

It  was  his  sense  of  the  value  and  indispensableness  of 
evangelical  convictions  and  experience  which  made  him 
catholic. 

"We  make  probable  evidence  of  Christian  character  the 
test  of  communion,  with  this  sectarian  feature  only  —  all 
must   come  into    the    church  through  the    door   of   total 

abstinence.     The  door  is  too  narrow  for  a  good  old , 

so  he  stays  out  of  the  fold,  but  I  hope  the  wolves  will  not 
catch  him,  although  they  howl  sometimes  most  hideously. 

"  I  do  think  the  '  isms '  of  evangelical  Christians  among 
the  greatest  evils  in  this  Western  country.  The  wither- 
ing influence  is  seen  in  almost  every  church,  stirring  up 
jealousy  and  strife  and  suspicion,  paralyzing  action,  and 
putting  a  damper  on  all  the  holy  affections.  But  the  evil 
is  perhaps  not  much  more  visible  here  than  at  the  East, 
and  I  do  think  it  is  time  for  the  different  denominations 
to  turn  off  their  eyes  from  the  peculiarities  of  each  to 
that  great  bond  of  charity  which  binds  together  all  holy 
beings.  Pardon  this  digression  in  justification  of  my 
course.     Let  me  know  your  views.     Had  I  not  gone  upon 


A  PIONEER  PASTORATE.  93 

this  liberal  principle,  I  could  not  have  formed  a  church 
among  Presbyterians.  I  fear  there  may  be  disapprobation 
on  the  part  of  some." 

Later  he  wrote  :  "  I  have  reason  every  day  to  be  thank- 
ful that  the  Lord  led  me  to  this  course.  If  I  had  put  up 
the  bars  and  shut  out  those  Baptist  applicants,  it  would 
have  been  very  difficult  to  form  a  church.  I  do  not 
waver  on  that  point  [infant  baptism].  To  me  it  is  as 
clear  as  that  there  is  a  sun  in  the  heavens.  Still,  many 
honest  men,  Christians,  think  differently.  .  .  .  And  when 
a  church  is  composed  of  members  who  differ  in  things  not 
essential  to  salvation,  a  fine  opportunity  is  offered  for 
Christian  forbearance  and  brotherly  love.  Members  learn 
to  value  each  other  not  so  much  for  opinions  as  practical 
piety. 

"  Our  church  is  a  little  band,  so  situated  as  to  health 
and  distance  that  only  eight  can  be  in  one  place,  though 
we  are  all  of  one  accord  in  supplicating  the  blessing  of 
God.  A  temperance  society  has  been  the  means  of  saving 
some  who  were  almost  beyond  the  regions  of  hope.  Young 
men  who  are  not  Christians  take  a  deep  interest  in  this 
society,  the  Sunday-school,  the  Bible  society,  etc.  We 
have  supplied  Adams  County  with  Bibles,  and  are  making 
arrangements  to  supply  Pike  and  Hancock.  We  observe 
the  monthly  concert  of  prayer :  we  give  about  seven  dollars 
or  eight  dollars  a  month.  It  is  interesting  to  see  young 
men  who  have  but  little  capital,  and  families  dependent 
almost  entirely  on  their  exertions,  subscribing  from  fifty 
cents  to  one  dollar  a  month  to  missionary  objects.  I 
believe  that  those  who  have  professed  religion  feel  that 
they  have  given  themselves,  their  time,  their  property,  and 
all  they  have  to  the  Lord.1     Scarcely  a  man  has  a  com- 

1 "  The  young  lady  who  died  in  my  family  I  verily  believe  was  worth  all  the  rest. 
Sweet  and  lovely  in  disposition,  easy  in  her  mauuers,  she  gained  the  affections  of 


94  ASA    TUBNER. 

fortable  house,  or  any  thing  else  to  render  his  situation 
desirable.  Providing  food,  clothing,  and  shelter  absorbs 
almost  every  thought.  We  are  now  making  efforts 
to  build  a  house  for  worship  and  school.  Our  place  in  its 
infancy,  —  but  little  more  than  two  years  have  elapsed  since 
it  began  to  settle,  —  almost  all  have  invested  all  they  have 
in  real  estate  which  is  not  now  productive.  If  those  who 
worship  in  cedar  houses  could  visit  our  log  cabin  the  past 
winter,  sit  on  our  slab  seats,  and  feel  the  wind  pouring 
over  them  with  the  thermometer  far  below  zero,  I  think 
they  would  be  willing  to  give  of  their  abundance  to 
supply  our  necessity.  But  few  here  have  outside  garments. 
Children  met  me  at  the  Sunday-school  one  morning,  when 
it  was  14°  below  zero,  more  than  half  of  them  with  nothing 
but  their  summer  dresses.  Little  boys  clad  in  tow-cloth. 
I  once  felt  that  '  calls '  were  too  urgent,  but  not  now. 
The  subject  can  not  be  felt  save  by  those  who  have  been  on 
the  ground." 

Occasionally  we  have  a  picture  of  epidemic  diseases 
among  the  frontiersmen.  Once  he  wrote  of  doing  nothing 
for  six  weeks  but  visit  the  sick.  Mr.  Cartwright  passed 
ten  weeks  in  Quincy  once,  "when  there  was  but  one 
family  where  there  was  no  affliction."  "The  great  ma- 
jority just  recovering  from  sickness,"  wrote  his  "  Presby- 
terian '  neighbor  at  another  time,  "  and  many  of  them 
thrown  into  an  ague  fit  if  they  exert  themselves  for  the 
comforts  of  life.  If  the  winter  should  be  long,  many  will 
suffer  for  the  want  of  food.  Flour  of  very  inferior  quality 
$5  to  85.75  per  barrel.  Almost  every  other  article  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five  per  cent,  higher  than  in  New  York 

all.  She  was  always  ready  to  act,  and  her  uncommon  degree  of  good  sense  ren- 
dered all  her  movements  judicious.  For  many  years  past  she  had  lived  in  Boston, 
and  there  acquired  all  experience  desirable  to  render  one  in  her  situation  useful. 
The  great  object  for  which  she  came  to  the  West  was  to  do  good."— November  7, 
1831. 


A   PIONEER  PASTORATE.  95 

My  rent  $4.50  for  one  small  room  and  a  few  logs  to  break 
the  snow  off  my  horse.'' 

Reduction  of  the  scanty  home  missionary  appropriation 
had  a  sore  meaning  in  such  circumstances !  When  this 
came  he  observed :  "  If  I  had  time  to  work  on  a  farm,  I 
could  earn  my  provisions ;  but  with  no  brother  minister 
short  of  eighty  miles,  and  calls  to  preach  from  every 
quarter,  I  can  not  stop  to  farm ;  have  not  had  time  to  hoe 
my  garden  or  do  the  least  thing  for  myself.  I  can  live  as 
the  rest,  give  me  a  plow,  but  as  a  minister, . 

"  If  I  had  said  a  word  about  salary  it  would  in  great 
degree  have  destroyed  my  usefulness.  There  are  but  few 
places  in  the  state  where  two  hundred  dollars  could  be 
raised  until  a  man  had  first  cultivated  the  ground."  "  I 
have  sold  some  of  my  clothes  that  I  brought  on  with  me, 
and  if  I  can  live  through  the  year  I  shall  do  well.  A 
great  many  bring  letters  to  me,  and  I  must  entertain 
them  one,  two,  three,  four  days,  some  a  week,  and  in  one 
instance  five  or  six.  You  would  not,  you  say.  What 
would  you  do?"  1 

Of  his  first  vear's  four  hundred  dollars,  half  had  been 
paid  for  money  borrowed  (East)  and  due  for  freight  on 
household  goods.  He  had  just  lost  a  valuable  horse  — 
"  a  great  loss,  for  it  is  not  possible  for  me  to  buy  another." 
Mrs.  Turner  wrote  her  mother :  "  Dolly  died  last  night, 
and  we  are  mourning  her  loss.  Doubtless  you  will  say 
how  foolish  to  think  so  much  of  a  dumb  beast !  We 
have  the  sympathy  of  all  who  knew  her.  She  was  the 
favorite  of  the  place  ;  there  is  not  another  such  creature 


1  Other  generous  acts  of  his  are  represented  in  a  letter  from  one  who  in  the 
earlier  years  reached  Quincy  with  her  mother  and  sister,  her  father  having  died 
on  the  way.  "  It  was  very  difficult  to  find  dwelling-places,  and  Mr.  Turner  kindly 
offered  us  a  part  of  his  house.  Being  the  resident  minister,  he  gave  a  cordial 
greeting  and  helping  hand  to  the  stranger,  seeking  out  the  suffering,  carrying 
cooling  draughts  and  nourishment." 


96  ASA   TUBNEB. 

this  side  of  Cincinnati.  We  had  set  too  much  by  her, 
and  she  is  taken  to  show  us  how  uncertain  are  creature 
dependencies.  I  drove  her  up  and  down  some  of  the 
worst  hills  in  Indiana,  and  when  at  the  top  of  some  very 
steep  ones  I  felt  sure  that  if  it  was  in  her  power  I  should 
reach  the  bottom  in  safety.  Mr.  Turner  says  she  was 
perfect ;  had  not  a  fault.  We  feel  much  poorer  than  last 
night." 

"  For  many  months  that  deep  attention  and  stillness 
have  been  apparent  which  characterize  Eastern  revivals. 
And  I  have  been  anxiously  waiting  to  see  the  Spirit 
descend.  I  can  not  tell  you  of  a  revival,  and  fear  my 
own  unfaithfulness  has  been  the  cause ;  and  by  the  grace 
of  God  I  will  try  to  do  my  duty  better  for  the  future. 
But  the  Spirit  has  been  with  us;  three  recently  hoped 
that  they  have  found  peace  in  believing,  and  a  few  more 
are  anxious."  Later,  "  Our  prospects  are  brightening ; 
more  interest." 

It  was  never  this  earnest  worker's  habit  to  magnify 
God's  converting  work  in  the  public  eye.  Three  months 
later  the  junior  elder,  himself  a  recent  confessor  of  Christ, 
wrote  of  what  followed  the  organization  :  — 

"  Mr.  Turner  soon  gathered  as  many  as  our  house  would 
hold,  and  in  a  very  short  time  it  was  too  small  —  more 
than  full  of  serious,  attentive  hearers.  Since  the  first  of 
February  more  than  usual  seriousness  has  rested  on  the 
congregation.  It  became  evident  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
here.  Oh,  how  our  hearts  melted !  what  precious  seasons 
we  had!  The  goodness  of  God  was  so  overwhelming 
that  he  should  answer  our  prayers  so  soon,  and  send 
his  Holy  Spirit  into  so  wicked  a  place,  that  it  completely 
prostrated  us  in  the  dust  and  slew  our  pride." 

"  I  expect  four  or  five  will  unite  with  us  at  our  next 
communion  two  weeks  from  next  Sabbath,"  wrote  Mr. 


A  PIONEEB  PASTOBATE.  97 

Turner.  "  We  intend  to  have  a  four  days'  meeting  the 
second  Sabbath  in  June :  will  you  not  remember  us  at 
that  time,  and  ask  Christians  in  New  York  to  think  of 
us?" 

His  lay  helper  gives  results :  "  A  four  days'  meeting 
was  held,  commencing  on  the  twelfth  of  June,  and  a  five 
o'clock  prayer-meeting  well  attended.  It  was  such  a  time 
as  I  never  expected  to  see  in  Quincy.  On  the  last  day 
nine  were  received  into  the  church  —  two  by  letter  and 
seven  on  profession  (all  of  these  have  met  with  a  change 
of  heart  quite  lately).  At  the  close  fifty-seven  persons 
arose  and  expressed  a  determination  to  seek  salvation  now. 
Of  these,  five  or  six  hope  they  have  since  given  themselves 
to  the  Lord;  the  others  are  still  inquiring.  These  are 
glorious  things  for  such  a  place  as  this  was  a  year  ago. 
We  would  not  for  the  universe  go  back  where  we  were. 
.  .  .  Mr.  Turner  above  all  men  in  the  world  was  the  man 
to  be  sent  here.  .  .  .  By  his  kindness,  suavity  of  manner, 
and  general  deportment,  while  he  ceased  not  to  declare  the 
whole  counsel  of  God  in  much  plainness  of  speech,  while 
he  held  up  the  terrors  of  the  law  and  pointed  to  a  bleeding 
Saviour,  and  persuaded  them  to  close  with  the  offers  of 
mercy  now,  he  gained  the  respect,  esteem,  and  confidence 
of  all.  He  is  so  fixed  in  our  affections  that  it  would  be 
death  to  our  hopes  and  prospects  if  he  should  be  removed 
to  another  place." 

Evidently  the  beginnings  of  all  Christian  institutions 
on  this  outpost  of  home  missions  and  civilization  upon 
the  Mississippi  were  now  made  sure. 


XIII. 

OTHER   PIONEERS.  —  ILLINOIS   COLLEGE. 

The  pastorship  at  Quincy,  though  never  formalized  by 
"installation,"  with  the  pastor  himself  held  such  rela- 
tions in  those  times  and  were  such  in  themselves  that 
others  are  naturally  grouped  about  them.  He  was  asso- 
ciated in  his  work  with  a  number  of  devoted  and  notable 
men,  worthy  —  his  humility  would  have  protested  —  of 
such  a  memorial  as  this  volume  rather  than  himself.  At 
a  certain  point  of  time  Dr.  Roy  thus  places  them  :  — 

"  Following  up  our  Illinois  Band,  we  find  all  of  them 
but  one,  by  the  year  1833,  settled  in  Illinois  under  com- 
mission, —  Brooks  at  Collinsville  ;  Jenney  at  Alton  ;  Kirby 
at  Mendon  ;  Carter  at  Pittsfield ;  Hale  at  Bethel,  and  then 
at  Springfield  for  a  life-work ;  Barnes  at  Canton ;  Farn- 
ham  at  Lewiston,  and  then  at  Princeton ;  and  Bascom  in 
Tazewell  County,  leaving  after  six  years  eleven  Presbyte- 
rian churches,  then  in  a  home  missionary  agency,  and  in 
pastorates  at  Chicago,  Galesburg,  Dover,  Princeton,  and 
Hinsdale.  Mason  Grosvenor,  in  whose  brain  was  born  the 
idea  of  the  Illinois  Association,  true  to  his  life-plan,  has 
been  many  years  a  professor  in  Illinois  College,"  and 
Sturtevant  became  its  head. 

The  names  of  six  others  are  given,  who  came  after  these 
up  to  1833,  and  it  is  added :  "  These  men  plant  their  own 
churches,  travel,  hold  protracted  meetings,  organize  other 
churches,  set  up  tract  and  Bible  societies  and  Sunday- 
schools,  and  pioneer  the  cause  of  temperance  and  that 
of  education,  after  the  sample  given  in  that  first  Quincy 


OTHER  PIONEERS.  —  ILLINOIS   COLLEGE.  99 

pastorate.  Of  the  seven  at  least,  who,  with  Mr.  Turner, 
originally  formed  the  Illinois  Association  at  Yale,  some- 
thing should  here  be  said.  They  are  among  historic  char- 
acters of  the  commonwealth." 

It  was  in  1828  that  Theron  Baldwin  read  to  the  Yale 
Society  of  Inquiry  an  essay  on  "  Individual  Effort  in  the 
Cause  of  Christ."  "  This  so  stirred  Mason  Grosvenor 
that  he  proposed  an  association  to  go  to  some  new  state 
or  territory  and  promote  religion  and  learning."  "  And 
this,"  says  Mr.  Turner,  "shaped  the  course  of  my  whole 
life  after." 

Theron  Baldwin  was  born  at  Goshen,  Conn.,  1801.  He 
"  attended  such  schools  as  rural  Connecticut  then  afforded," 
while  working  daily  on  his  father's  farm.  With  severe 
economy  of  time,  day  and  evening,  for  study,  he  walked,  as 
his  attainments  advanced,  four  miles  twice  a  week  to  recite 
to  his  pastor,  Rev.  Joseph  Harvey.  He  finished  prepara- 
tion for  college  by  three  months'  attendance  upon  Goshen 
Academy.  .  His  school-mate,  Rev.  Prof.  William  Thomp- 
son, d.d.,  observes  that  he  was  then  "  characterized  by  the 
same  Christian  qualities  that  in  after  years  were  so  identi- 
fied with  his  eminent  services."  He  entered  Yale  with 
Mr.  Turner  in  1823,  graduating  also  in  1827.  From  his 
theological  course  he  was  on  the  point  of  going  to  Montreal 
for  missionary  work,  when  the  failure  of  a  letter  to  reach 
him  in  time  led  him  to  join  the  association  which  had 
grown  out  of  his  essay.  The  other  members  urged  him  to 
go  to  Illinois  before  completing  theological  study,  which 
he  did. 

Under  home  missionary  commission  for  Indiana,  Illinois, 
and  Missouri,  he  went  to  Vandalia,  the  state  capital,  from 
1820  to  1840,  where  those  who  followed  him  from  New 
Haven  found  him  "  finishing  his  studies  on  horseback." 
In  1831  he  was  working  for  Illinois  College  in  New  Eng- 


100  ASA    TURNER. 

land  and  the  Middle  States.  The  lady  —  still  surviving 
—  whom  he  married  that  year,  at  Burlington,  Vt.,  gives 
glimpses  of  a  journey  from  Vandalia  to  Jacksonville  the 
next  January  with  an  apt  hand. 

"  The  snowfall  was  unusual ;  the  cold  intense.  A  single 
sleigh,  a  fleet  horse,  and  a  buffalo-robe  were  procured.  For 
some  miles  through  heavily  timbered  land  the  snow  was 
abundant ;  then  a  broad  expanse  of  prairie  whereon  there 
was  scarcely  enough  visible  to  make  a  respectable  snowball. 
The  only  alternative  was  to  turn  back  to  the  last  house 
passed. 

"  It  was  a  log  cabin,  the  residence  of  Judge .    Here 

was  genuine  Western  hospitality !  '  Oh,  yes,  come  in ! 
You  can  stop  over  night,  and  in  the  morning  I  will  send  a 
man  with  my  Dearborn  to  take  you  to  HillsboroV  It  was 
customary  for  those  people  of  Southern  Illinois  to  set  before 
you  such  as  they  had,  and  never  pester  you  with  apologies. 
If  your  hostess  should  take  your  knife  from  your  plate  and 
stir  your  coffee  with  it,  and  then  —  after  wiping  it  on  her 
apron  —  return  it  to  your  plate,  the  trouble  of  concocting 
that  little  white  lie  to  smooth  things  over  might  be  spared. 
Nothing  of  the  kind  happened  here.  On  going  to  the 
door  next  morning,  an  explorer  who  had  made  the  circuit 
round  the  cabin  reported  the  discovery  of  a  spring  in  the 
ravine  just  back  of  the  house.  I  followed  his  trail. 
There  it  was  !  bubbling  from  the  bank  into  a  little  natural 
basin,  clear,  bright,  and  just  the  right  temperature.  It 
did  not  take  long  to  divine  that  this  might  be  the  family 
washbowl  —  perhaps  the  well  also  ;  but  for  a  time  no  duck 
could  have  been  happier.  Returning  to  the  house  with 
dripping  face  and  hands,  mine  host,  who  was  sitting  near 
the  door,  looked  up,  and  quietly  remarked,  '  I  reckon  you 
will  have  to  dry  you  on  your  handkercher  ;  our  folks 
have  n't  any  towel.'     After  breakfast,  our  plunder  having 


OTHER  PIONEERS.  — ILLINOIS   COLLEGE.  101 

been  transferred  to  the  Dearborn,  we  resumed  our  jour- 
ney. A  creek  lay  across  our  path,  its  banks  steep,  its  bed 
about  half-filled  with  water.  I  doubt  if  a  native  had  ever 
seen  a  bridge.  Our  driver  did  not  appear  to  feel  the  need 
of  one.  The  Dearborn  went  down  with  a  thud  into  the 
water,  the  horse  and  driver  went  out  on  the  opposite 
bank,  leaving  load  and  passengers  in  the  creek.  Woe  to 
the  woman  who  can  not  jump  in  an  emergency !  The 
Dearborn  was  not  broken ;  its  main  parts  had  sepa- 
rated—  that  was  all.  A  little  time  and  patience,  with 
some  hard  work,  brought  the  parts  together,  and  we  had 

the  pleasure  of  reaching  H that  day. 

"  Our  friend,  Mr.  S.,  was  from  New  York.     Every  thing 
within  and  around  the  house  was  so  nice  and  comfortable, 
it  seemed  a  bit  of  New  England  dropped  on  the  prairie. 
That  night  it  thundered  and  lightened  and  rained  —  oh, 
how  it  did  rain  !     Towards  morning  every  thing  froze  up. 
Mr.  S.  brought  out  a  span  of  large,  noble  horses  and  a 
covered  farm-wagon.     Our  goods  were  placed  inside  and 
we  followed.     The  night's  rain  had  flooded  the  creeks  and 
lowlands,  and  the  cold  of  the  morning  finished  the  work 
with  a  crust  of  ice  above  the  water.     The  horses  had  to 
raise  their  feet  and  break  the   ice  at  every  step.       The 
prairie  was  like  a  sea  of  glass,  while  the  heads  of  the  tall 
grass  covered  with  frozen  sleet  waved  and  glittered  in  the 
sun  like  diamonds.     A  single  pole  indicated  the  fording- 
place  of  Apple  Creek.     It  was  doubtful  whether,  if  the 
horses  were  to  go  into  the  stream,  they  could  get  out. 
Mr.  S.  took  one  of  the  horses  and  the  pole.     A  crash  and 
a  struggle  —  he  was  in  the  water.     The  horse  brought  him 
out  on  the  side  near  us,  and  a  suit  of  dry  clothes,  including 
bearskin    moccasins,   was   thrown    out   to    him.       Judge 
whether  a  whole  prairie  on  a  windy  mid-winter  day  would 
make  a  desirable  dressing-room  ! 


102  ASA    TUB  NEB. 

"  Ten  good  miles  now  between  us  and  a  fire.  Following 
the  creek  up  towards  its  source  more  shallow  water  and 
safer  crossing  were  found,  and  it  was  nearly  night  when 
we  reached  Cook  and  Eastman's  log  cabin  tavern  [now 
Waverly].  Here  Mr.  S.  sat  all  the  evening  with  his 
back  to  a  huge  fire-place  —  the  blaze  of  big  logs  did  their 
best  to  ward  off  the  chill.  Next  morning  he  was  up  and 
ready  for  business.  Ice  was  every-where.  Half-way  down 
a  steep  hill,  which  was  glare  ice,  something  in  the  harness 
broke.  Should  the  horses  become  restive  our  lives  would 
not  be  worth  much.  But  no — -they  seemed  to  have  a 
new  sense  of  responsibility,  and  when  their  master  said 
1  Whoa  ! '  planted  their  corks  in  the  ice  and  braced  them- 
selves to  hold  the  entire  load  steady,  while  Mr.  S.,  with 
Yankee  dexterity,  whipped  out  his  jackknife  and  strings, 
repaired  the  harness,  and  was  back  in  his  seat  in  a 
twinkling. 

"  There  were  some  grateful  hearts  at  the  foot  of  that 
hill  that  day.  [Mr.  S.  returned  home,  and  when  he  related 
these  adventures  to  his  family,  and  was  asked  what  Mrs. 
Baldwin  said,  he  replied :  "  She  never  cheeped."  Plenty 
of  work  and  warm  friends  at  Jacksonville,  and  our  life- 
work  began  in  earnest." 

That  work,  though  quiet,  was  very  diversified.  It  was 
for  some  time  an  itinerant  missionary  work  in  connection 
with  Rev.  Albert  Hale ;  one  "  of  great  but  cheerful  toil 
and  self-denial,"  says  President  Sturtevant,  "perhaps  the 
most  useful  work  of  his  life."  While  engaged  in  it,  the 
founder  of  Monticello  Female  Seminary,  Alton,  advised 
with  him,  and  in  1837  persuaded  him  to  take  charge  of 
it.  Seven  years  later  he  took  part  in  forming  The 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Collegiate  and  Theological 
Education  at  the  West,  of  which  he  was  secretary  till 
his  death,  April,  1870  —  twenty-six  years.     He  had  been 


OTHER  PIOXEERS.— ILLINOIS   COLLEGE.  103 

nearly  forty  years  before  agent  of  the  (Connecticut) 
Protestant  Evangelical  Education  Society.  He  started 
and  for  a  time  edited  The  Common  School  Advocate,  and 
was  first  secretary  of  the  Illinois  State  Sabbath-school 
Association.  One  year  he  traveled  3,600  miles  collecting 
about  $2,000  for  benevolence;  $700  of  this  for  ouilding 
churches  in  destitute  places.  He  was  counselor,  helper, 
and  actuary  for  almost  every  thing  that  was  Christian  or 
useful.  A  list  before  me  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  letters, 
written  in  eleven  months  of  1836,  shows  an  amaz- 
ing variety  of  practical  interests  promoted,  beyond 
classification. 

A  man  of  superior  forecast,  quiet  industry,  and  tireless 
observation,  of  wisdom  in  council,  caution,  adherence  to 
principle  and  plan,  —  almost  taciturn,  yet  drawing  out  the 
confidence  of  children*  and  souls  in  trouble,  —  he  had  a 
gentle  aggressiveness  for  good  seldom  outrun  by  the 
noisier  push  of  others. 

Julian  M.  Sturtevant,  who  came  West  with  him,  was  of 
the  class  before  him  at  Yale.  He  was  born  at  Warren, 
Conn.,  1805  ;  graduating  in  1826  and  leaving  the  seminary 
in  1829,  he  was  ordained  at  Woodbury.  After  about 
two  months'  missionary  service  in  Illinois,  beginning  in 
October,  he  opened,  January,  1830,  the  school  which  grew 
into  Illinois  College,  as  the  only  teacher.  His  whole  after 
life  was  given  to  this  service  —  as  professor  in  mathematics, 
1831-44 ;  president,  1844-76 ;  professor  in  mental  and 
political  science  till  his  death  from  old  age,  1886.  His 
mind  was  strong,  analytical,  and  argumentative ;  he  was 
a  vigorous  preacher  and  debater,  and  a  superior  teacher; 
was  specially  earnest  against  sectarianism,  and  in  fifty-six 
years  of  self-denying  college  toil  built  his  own  monument. 
He  was  the  author  of  three  volumes  and  sixteen  published 
discourses  and  pamphlets.  Both  his  predecessor  in  the 
presidency,  Rev.  Edward  Beecher,  d.d.  (now  in  his  eighty- 


104  ASA    TUBNEB. 

fifth  year),  and  his  successor,  Rev.  E.  A.  Turner,  d.d., 
are  living. 

Illinois  College,  however,  was  not  the  first  in  the  state 
of  its  rank.  Shurtleff  College  (Baptist)  and  McKendree 
(Methodist  Episcopal)  preceded  it  in  1827  and  1828. 
Rock  Spring  Theological  Seminary  and  High  School  in 
St.  Clair  County,  started  by  Dr.  John  M.  Peck  in  1827, 
was  removed  to  Alton  in  1831,  and  merged  in  Shurtleff 
College.  At  Hillsboro',  Montgomery  County,  John  Till- 
son,  Esq.,  erected  a  seminary  building  where  Dr.  Edward 
Wyman,  afterward  of  St.  Louis,  taught  for  some  years. 
The  Germans  then  bought  the  institution,  turned  it  into  a 
theological  school,  and  removed  it  to  Springfield.  Public 
schools  had  been  attempted  at  that  time  under  the 
furtherance  of  Governor  Joseph  Duncan,  but  after  two 
years'  effort  abandoned,  the  lands  being  mismanaged.  In 
Mr.  Baldwin's  Vandalia  Sunday-school,  only  thirty-seven 
could  read  out  of  a  hundred  and  five ;  in  another  county 
only  twenty-five  families  out  of  fifty-two.  Colleges  were 
a  simple  necessity  of  Christian  missions,  and  could  wait 
neither  for  tardy  school  systems  nor  for  state  universi- 
ties, after  the  plans  of  Thomas  Jefferson  or  Dr.  Manasseh 
Cutler. 

The  correspondence  of  the  young  Yalensians  with 
Rev.  J.  M.  Ellis  followed  his  organizing  a  "  college  com- 
mittee "  in  Illinois  in  1826,  and  the  choice  of  trustees  next 
year  from  subscribers  to  the  enterprise  in  the  state.  Late 
in  1829  Rev.  Solomon  Hardy  apprised  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society  that  a  building  at  Jacksonville 
would  be  in  readiness  in  a  few  weeks.  "  The  most  delight- 
ful spot  I  have  ever  seen,"  wrote  Mr.  Ellis  of  the  site, 
"  about  one  mile  north  of  the  celebrated  Diamond  Grove." 
"  The  first  log  cabin  was  erected  but  nine  years  ago. 
What  an  enchanting  prospect !  "  1 

1  Illinois  Intelligencer,  Vandalia,  January  2, 1830. 


OTHER  PIONEERS.  —  ILLINOIS   COLLEGE.  105 

In  session  there  December  18,  1829,  the  Illinois  stock- 
holders, on  motion  of  Hon.  James  Hall,  "accepted  the 
terms  of  union  proposed  by  Messrs.  Theron  Baldwin, 
John  F.  Brooks,  Mason  Grosvenor,  Elisha  Jenney, 
William  Kirby,  Julian  M.  Sturtevant,  and  Asa  Turner." 
These  seven  young  home  missionaries  were  elected 
trustees,  the  whole  number  being  ten.  About  $3,000 
had  been  raised  in  Illinois.  It  had  been  agreed  that  the 
Eastern  brethren  should  raise  12,000  in  the  fall  of  1829, 
and  $  10,000  within  two  years.  One  per  cent,  per  acre  on 
Illinois  lands  was  pledged  by  those  who  held  them.  Some 
113,000  seemed  to  be  "  in  sight." 

Mr.  Turner  in  1830  was  at  New  York,  Boston,  Andover, 
and  elsewhere,  urging  on  the  enterprise,  and  enthusiastic 
enough  to  propose  a  total  fund  of  $50,000.  At  New 
Haven  (February)  he  reported  a  settlement  with  Mr. 
Ellis ;  the  $10,000  nearly  all  subscribed.  From  Quincy, 
he  wrote,  January,  1831 :  "  Our  college  excites  a  good  deal 
of  interest  in  the  state.  In  regard  to  a  charter  this  winter, 
it  is  impossible  to  tell ;  one  class  violently  opposed. 
Brother  Sturtevant  has  gained  the  confidence  and  good- 
will of  the  inhabitants  generally.  All  that  is  wanting  is 
funds.  When  I  was  there,  November  25,  thirty  students 
were  on  the  ground,  and  seven  more  had  applied." 

Governor  Ford  notes  the  zeal  of  the  new  class  of  minis- 
ters for  learning.  "  But  such  was  the  prejudice  against 
them,  that  they  did  not  succeed  in  getting  any  charters 
for  several  years,  and  when  they  did,  each  charter  con- 
tained a  prohibition  of  a  theological  department."  Mr. 
Baldwin,  at  the  capital,  working  indefatigably  and  wisely 
for  the  charter,  was  sanguine  of  success. 

Most  of  Mr.  Turner's  second  year  as  a  missionary  was 
passed  at  the  East  for  the  college  endowment.  At  home 
again  he  filled  the  office  of  trustee  with  industry  and  care. 


106  ASA    TUBNEB. 

Years  after  he  was  asked  to  undertake  Eastern  work  for 
it  again,  on  permanent  endowment,  but  he  filled  now  a 
twofold  position  in  Iowa.  He  attended  commencements 
at  Jacksonville,  and  served  on  important  committees. 
His  correspondence  reveals  protracted  discussions  as  to 
the  denominational  relations  of  the  college.1  When  he 
resigned  as  trustee,  November,  1844,  the  board  unani- 
mously adopted  the  following  minute  :  — 

Our  relations  to  Mr.  Turner  have  ever  been  of  the  most  pleasant 
and  fraternal  character ;  we  regard  his  efforts  in  raising  funds  for 
the  institution  as  among  the  most  efficient  and  successful ;  we  have 
found  him  ever  a  faithful  and  disinterested  fellow-laborer  for  the 
cause  to  which  he  devoted  himself  with  others  in  the  ardor  of 
youth ;  and  it  is  with  regret  that  we  see  his  place  on  this  board 
vacated. 

'Of  this  college  and  other  enterprises  of  the  time,  Dr.  Sturtevant  said,  in  The 
Congregational  Review,  Chicago,  July,  1870:  "The  sect  question  was  not  thought 
of.  The  aim  was  simply  evangelization."  But  the  opposition  referred  to  was  none 
the  less  on  this  account. 


XIV. 

THE   PIONEERS   AND   THEIR   COLLEGE. — CONTINUED. 

Rev.  Elias  Cornelius,  d.d.,  of  the  American  Board, 
"charged  "  Mr.  Ellis,  at  his  ordination  in  Boston,  in  1825, 
to  "  build  up  an  institution  of  learning  which  shall  bless 
the  West."  He  had  been  home  missionary  at  Kaskaskia 
when  the  Yale  Association  wrote  him,  and  was  now 
pastor  at  Jacksonville.  We  shall  hear  of  his  obeying  the 
charge  later  and  farther  west  than  Illinois.  Mr.  Turner 
and  all  his  associates  may  not  have  been  so  charged,  but 
they  did  as  he  did.  The  American  Education  Society, 
Dartmouth  College,  and  the  Western  College  Society  had 
Mr.  Ellis's  services  before  his  death  in  1855. 

Mason  Grosvenor,  the  Association  Secretary  at  Yale, 
was  born  in  Pomfret,  Conn.,  1800  ;  graduated  from  college, 
1827,  and  in  theology,  1831 ;  was  ordained  at  Guilford ; 
and  preached  at  Ashfield,  Mass.,  Sharon,  Conn.,  and 
Hudson,  Ohio.  He  was  principal  of  the  Hudson  Female 
Seminary,  1843-47 ;  agent  for  the  Western  College 
Society,  1847-63 ;  and  for  the  Ohio  Female  College  after- 
wards. Having  retired  for  a  time,  he  was  instructor  in 
mathematics  in  Illinois  and  Beloit  colleges,  one  year  in 
each.  From  1870  to  1880,  he  was  professor  of  moral 
philosophy  in  the  former.  He  died  at  Englewood,  N.  J., 
in  1886,  of  old  age. 

Elisha  Jenney  was  born  at  Fairhaven,  Mass.,  1803 ; 
graduated  at  Dartmouth,  1827 ;  at  Yale  Seminary,  1831 ; 
and  was  ordained  by  the  Third  Presbytery  of  New  York. 
He  preached  at  Alton,  111.,  Waverly,  Monticello,  Spring 


108  ASA    TURNEB. 

Creek,  and  Island  Grove,  and  was  then  in  general  work 
for  Illinois  and  Alton  presbyteries,  1849-58.  Until  1868 
he  was  agent  for  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society 
(as  he  had  once  been,  earlier,  for  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions).  He  died  in  1882, 
of  heart  disease,  at   Galesburg,  111. 

The  first  of  the  seven  to  die  was  William  Kirby,  born 
at  Gnilford,  Conn.,  1805 ;  graduated  from  Yale,  1827,  and 
in  theology,  1831.  He  began  his  Western  work  in  1831, 
as  tutor  in  Illinois  College.  In  a  commemorative  sermon, 
President  Sturtevant  said  that  "the  two  years  he  spent 
as  an  instructor  were  the  most  exhausting  of  his  life." 
He  found  the  hardships  and  difficulties  of  home  missionary 
life  less  so.  And  yet,  in  one  of  the  places  where  he 
preached  he  "had  the  privilege  of  buying  corn,  at  a 
distance  of  eight  miles  from  his  residence,  for  a  dollar 
and  a  half  a  bushel,  provided  he  would  shell  it  for  him- 
self and  carry  it  eight  miles  in  another  direction  to  mill. 
His  nearest  post-office  was  Chicago,  twenty-eight  miles.', 
He  preached  at  Union  Grove,  Blackstone's  Grove,  and 
Mendon,  1836-45.  He  was  agent  of  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society  till  his  death  at  Winchester,  1851,  of 
pneumonia. 

The  last  to  depart  was  John  F.  Brooks,  born  at  West- 
moreland, N.  Y.,  1802 ;  graduated  at  Hamilton  College, 
1828 ;  at  Yale  Seminary,  1831 ;  ordained  by  Oneida  Pres- 
bytery. Five  weeks  on  the  journey  from  Utica,  N.  Y.,  to 
Collinsville,  111.,  he  began  to  preach,  1831,  in  St.  Clair 
County,  111.  He  taught  a  private  school  at  Belleville  next 
year,  and  then  a  teacher's  seminary  at  Waverly,  1837  ;  since 
1840,  at  Springfield.  In  1848-50,  he  planted  Springfield 
Female  Seminary,  and  taught  Latin  in  the  Bettie  Stuart 
Seminary,  St.  Louis.  In  May,  1886,  he  wrote :  "  The 
Lord    gives    me    fair   health  at   the    age  of   eighty-four, 


THE  PIONEERS  AND    THEIR    COLLEGE.  109 

and   ability   to   hear   recitations   six  hours    a   day."     He 
taught  at  Springfield  till  his  death,  July,  1888. 

The  wide  usefulness  of  Dr.  Flavel  Bascom,  now  retired 
at  Princeton,  has  been  adverted  to.  Four  others  joined 
the  seven  with  him  in  its  first  two  months.  William 
Carter  was  born  at  New  Canaan,  Conn.,  1803 ;  graduated, 
1828 ;  was  teacher  at  Hartford  and  college  tutor,  1830 ; 
left  the  seminary,  1833 ;  preached  at  Jacksonville  four 
years,  and  at  Pittsfield,  Pike  County,  till  his  death,  1871. 
He  was  deeply  interested  in  the  Romish  question.  More 
than  six  hundred  were  received  by  him  into  the  churches. 
Albert  Hale,  born  at  Glastonbuiy,  Conn.,  1799  ;  a  store 
clerk  in  Wethersfield  at  fourteen  years;  was  converted 
six  or  eight  years  after.  "  Up  to  this  time,  very  gay  and 
worldly  minded,  and  read  his  Bible  only  to  make  fun  of  it. 
As  soon  as  converted  he  decided  to  study  for  the  ministry." 
Graduating  at  Yale  in  1827,  and  then  studying  theology 
there,  his  first  home  missionary  engagement  was  in 
Georgia.  Reaching  Illinois  in  1831,  he  labored  at  Bethel, 
Bond  County,  and  "  in  the  region  around  and  through  the 
state,"  with  Mr.  Baldwin,  Mr.  Turner,  and  others.  In  the 
fall  of  1839  he  became  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  Springfield,  and  gave  up  the  position  at  length 
for  what  he  called  his  "  uncanonical  congregation."  "  The 
church  could  get  a  pastor,"  he  said,  but  those  "  in  the 
highways  and  hedges  could  not ; '  and  he  became  city 
missionary.  Suffering  some  decay,  he  is  still  residing 
with  two  daughters  in  Springfield,  in  good  health  and 
happy.  His  shrewd  mother-wit  in  his  prime  was  enjoy- 
able. Perhaps  this  led  to  that  association  in  college  with 
Mr.  Turner  which  has  been  noted  (chap.  vi).  Lucien 
Farnham,  born  in  Windham  County,  Conn.,  1799 ;  gradu- 
ated at  Amherst,  1827 ;  at  Andover,  and  ordained  at 
Newburyport,  1830  ;  preached  at  Jacksonville,  Princeton, 


110  ASA    TUBNEB. 

Hadley,  Batavia,  Big  Grove,  Big  Woods,  Lockport,  and 
Newark,  111.,  where  he  died  on  his  seventy-fifth  birthday, 
1874.  And  Romulus  Barnes,  born  at  Bristol,  Conn.,  1800  ; 
graduated  at  Yale,  1828 ;  Yale  Seminary,  and  ordained, 
1831 ;  labored  at  Washington  and  other  places  in  Illinois ; 
also  died  at  Newark,  in  1846. 

Two  other  names  are  inseparable  from  the  history  of 
the  valuable  institution  Mr.  Turner  did  so  much  to  found. 
Journeying  for  it  in  Northern  Vermont  in  1832  he  heard 
at  Middlebury  of  a  brilliant  young  graduate  of  the  college 
—  Truman  M.  Post,  born  at  Middlebury  1810,  and  gradu- 
ated in  1829.  He  had  taught  in  the  academy  and  college 
and  studied  law,  but  had  then  just  resorted  to  Andover, 
contemplating  the  ministry.  At  Andover  Mr.  Turner 
found  he  had  gone  South-west,  turning  again  to  the 
law.  After  a  winter  at  Washington  the  advice  of 
Governor  Duncan  (then  member  of  Congress)  led  him 
to  Illinois,  in  St.  Louis,  where  he  left  his  baggage  and 
set  out  on  foot  for  Jacksonville.  The  tradition  is  that 
on  reporting  to  the  trustees  at  Jacksonville  about  him, 
Mr.  Turner  was  told :  "  He  is  here  trying  to  start  as  a 
lawyer."  His  engagement  for  the  department  of  lan- 
guages and  history  in  the  college  followed,  and  continued 
till  1847.  In  1834  the  doctrinal  difficulties  that  hindered 
him  at  Andover  had  so  far  cleared  away  that  he  joined 
the  church  at  Jacksonville,  Rev.  William  Carter,  pastor, 
whom  he  succeeded  in  the  pulpit  for  some  six  or  seven 
years.  He  was  ordained  in  1840.  His  preaching  then 
and  ever  was  picturesque,  magnetic,  captivating,  over- 
abounding  in  figures  of  speech  and  overloaded,  at  times, 
with  weight  of  allusion  and  learning.  He  lived  at  Jack- 
sonville, he  said,  "  with  one  sent  from  God  through  happy 
years." 

In  1848  the  Third  Presbyterian   Church  of  St.   Louis 


Prof.  J.  B.  Turner. 

(Seo  page  112.) 


^ 


THE  PIONEEBS  AND    THEIR    COLLEGE.  HI 

secured  his  services,  though  his  Congregational  principles 
forbade  his  installation.  He  protested  from  the  first  against 
slave-holding  in  the  city  and  state.1  In  1852,  by  a  vote  of 
62  to  24,  his  people  formed  the  First  Congregational 
Church,  twenty-five  members ;  funds  for  a  new  edifice 
being  first  secured,  and  the  old  property  bought  by  the 
majority.  The  new  church  sustained,  promptly,  a  city 
missionary.  Installed  pastor  that  year,  he  was  in  1882 
made  "emeritus"  on  resigning;  his  connection  with  the 
church  as  "a  burning  and  a  shining  light "  continued  for 
nearly  thirty-seven  years.  He  published  one  volume  and 
twenty-six  pamphlets.  Shortly  before  his  decease  he  said 
to  the  writer :  "  My  office  of  late  seems  to  be  mostly 
elegiac;  "  but  this  volume  is  poorer  for  his  not  living  to 
record  his  estimate  of  the  western  college  trustee  who 
fifty-five  years  ago  followed  him  from  Middlebury  to 
Andover  and  Jacksonville.  Dr.  Post  died  at  St.  Louis, 
December  31,  1886. 

Readers  of  this  book  are  already  made  aware  how  free 
and  sharp  a  pen  and  how  racy  a  style  belong  to  that 
younger  brother  of  its  subject  whom  he  drew  from  the 
farm  at  Templeton  to  Yale,  while  himself  studying 
theology  there.  Jonathan  Baldwin  Turner,  named  for  a 
maternal  ancestor,  was  born  December  7,  1805.  At 
Dwight's  Gymnasium,  New  Haven,  founded  by  Pres- 
ident Dwight's  sons,  Sereno  and  Henry,  he  fitted  for 
Yale,  while  his  brother  and  himself  were  assisting  in  the 
school  as  teachers.  He  graduated  in  1833,  but  he  had 
already  gone  to  Illinois  with  his  brother,  on  his  return 
with  his  family,  having  been  recommended  to  the  Illinois 
faculty  by  that  of  Yale  as  a  teacher.    "  At  first  I  taught," 

1U  He  regarded  the  holding  of  human  beings  as  property  a  violation  of  Christi- 
anity, demanding  to  be  guaranteed  liberty  of  speech  on  this  subject  at  his  own 
discretion ;  otherwise,  he  did  not  think  God  called  him  to  add  to  the  number  of 
slaves  already  in  Missouri." 


112  ASA    TUBNEB. 

he  says,  "  and  did  whatever  came  to  hand,  as  we  all  did ; 
from  helping  run  the  farm  and  the  mechanics'  shops  up 
to  the  highest  studies  there  taught."  Erelong  he  was 
assigned  to  rhetoric  and  belles-lettres,  with  some  Greek,  and 
remained  in  this  department  fifteen  years.  Meantime  he 
had  entered  with  energy  into  popular  education,  deliver- 
ing, in  1833,  a  series  of  lectures  in  favor  of  a  permanent 
common-school  system.  While  traveling  widely  in  this 
behalf  the  problem  of  fencing  prairie  farms  seized  his 
attention  and  he  experimented  with  various  hedge-plants. 
One  day  Dr.  Nelson  called  on  him,  and,  conversing  about 
hedges,  "  remarked  that  while  itinerating  in  the  South-west 
years  before  he  remembered  seeing  a  plant  growing  on 
the  Osage  River,  called  there  the  Osage-orange  {Madura), 
which,  from  its  tenacity  of  life  and  sharp  thorns,  he 
thought  might  answer  the  purpose.  As  the  Doctor  had 
failed  to  give  the  name  '  Bois  d'Arc,'  by  which  it  was 
known  farther  west,  inquiries  were  pushed  for  years 
without  satisfactory  results."      At  length  success  came. 

"  Failing  health  and  what  was  then  deemed  over-zealous 
resistance  to  slavery  and  sectarianism  "  having  caused  his 
resignation,  for  ten  years  he  was  actively  employed  in 
introducing  the  new  hedge-plant,  "  as  an  educational 
necessity  while  in  college,  and  afterwards  as  a  necessity 
of  livelihood."  His  patrimony  he  had  made  over  to  an 
unfortunate  sister  on  his  father's  death.  Profoundly 
interested  in  industrial  and  agricultural  education,  he 
labored  for  this  with  great  energy  and  influence  for 
twelve  years,  till  the  congressional  act  for  state  agri- 
cultural and  mechanical  colleges  was  passed  in  1862. 
He  advocated  earnestly  a  United  States  agricultural 
bureau  and  a  state  normal  school.  He  has  twice  been 
nominated  for  Congress. 

Professor    Turner's    publications    are    very    numerous, 


THE  PI0NEEE8  AND    THEIR    COLLEGE.  113 

though  now  mostly  out  of  print.  Besides  three  volumes, 
(1)  Mormonism  in  all  Ages,  1842;  (2)  Christ's  Creed 
and  Charter  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Heavens,  1847; 
and  (3)  Christ's  Words,  many  papers  of  his  have  been 
issued  by  Illinois  historical,  agricultural,  and  horticultural 
societies.  The  topics,  practical  and  scientific,  are  very 
diversified.  "Daniel  Webster  commended  his  essav  on 
Currency." 

His  home  has  always  been  at  Jacksonville,  where  his 
life,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  comfortable  fortune,  is  still 
both  active  and  studious.  In  a  recent  letter  he  describes 
himself  as  "ridiculously  healthy"  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
four.  He  has  outlived  not  only  his  Templeton  kindred, 
but  his  early  associates.  Rev.  Albert  Hale  and  Rev. 
Flavel  Bascom,  d.d.,  are  now  the  only  survivors  of  the 
Illinois  Association  of  Yale. 


XV. 

WORK  OTHER  THAN  PASTORAL. 

\J  Mr.  Turner's  commission  ran :  "  To  publish  the  gos- 
pel in  such  place  or  places  in  Illinois  as  shall  be  fixed  on 
with  the  advice  of  the  Illinois  Home  Missionary  Society." 
His  own  interest  in  Quincy  was  considered,  and  he  was 
sent  there. 

He  found  it  a  settlement  of  uncertain  numbers,  vari- 
ously estimated,  but  influencing  much  more  population 
around  about  it.  Methodist  circuit  riders  preached  there 
once  in  four  weeks  for  years.  "  No  minister  on  the  Mili- 
tary Tract  west  of  Rushville,  or  sixty  miles  east,  or  to 
Galena  north  two  hundred  and  fifty.  When  I  look  on  the 
desolations  my  heart  bleeds.  Places  multiply  in  which  I 
wish  to  preach  till  I  find  if  I  should  gratify  my  feelings 
I  must  be  divided  into  a  great  many  parts.  So  far  as  I 
can  judge,  duty  calls  me  to  concentrate,  to  cast  salt  into 
the  fountain  of  life  before  its  waters  become  waters  of 
death  to  all  the  surrounding  country.  Its  [Quincy's] 
influence  will  be  felt  over  a  territory  as  large  as 
Connecticut. 

"I  have  preached  twice  on  the  Sabbath  (except  every 
fourth,  then  once),  and  on  Wednesday  evenings ;  held 
conferences  Saturday  evenings,  prayer-meetings  Thursday 
evenings,  and  for  women  Wednesday  afternoons  ;  also, 
superintend  the  Sabbath-school.  I  can  not  preach  in 
the  country  more  than  once  a  week."  A  year  later  he 
preached  in  the  country  twice  a  week  —  though  beyond 
his  commission  —  at  three  stations,  from  eight  to  fifteen 


WOBK  OTHER    THAN  PASTOBAL.  115 

miles  distant.  In  town  three  times  on  the  Sabbath.  He 
was  present  at  all  appointments,  and  did  not  see  how  any 
of  them  could  be  given  up.  Every  boat  brought  additions 
to  the  population  of  Quincy. 

In  his  second  letter  he  wrote :  u  My  field  of  labor  is  as 
boundless  as  the  eye   can  see  —  a  territory  greater  than 
that  promised  to  Abraham,  more  abundant  in  its  produc- 
tions, and,  I  fear,  almost  as  destitute  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  true  God.     I  do  need  fellow-laborers  in  this  part  of 
the  vineyard ;  another  man   in  this  county ;  it   would  be 
better  than  money  earning  a  hundred  per  cent.     Pike  and 
Calhoun   counties  below  have  no  Presbyterian  minister 
(the  former  nearly  three  thousand  inhabitants).     Hancock 
County  is  fast  settling ;  now  about  six  hundred.     Also  in 
Warren  and  McDonough  a  man  is  greatly  needed.     Much 
time,  much  money,  and  many  souls  are  lost  by  letting  a 
field   go  uncultivated    a  few   years.     After  all  that  has 
been  said  and  done,  half  of  the  story  of  our  destitutions 
is  not  told.     One  hundred  fold  more  must  be   done  by 
Christians  at  the  East,  or  the  day  will  come  when  they 
will   rue  their  sloth.     Leaving  Illinois  now  while  she  is' 
forming  her  character  is  like  letting  childhood  and  youth 
pass  without  moral   instruction,  in  hope  the  native  soil 
of    a   depraved   heart   will   bring   forth   fruits    of    right- 
eousness.    I  do  not  complain.     I  bless  the  Lord  that  he 
has  placed  my  feet  on  the  rich  soil  of  Illinois.     But  if 
ministers  and  Christians  could  have  exchanged  places  with 
me  the  past  winter  so  that  they  might  see  our  necessities, 
they  would  contribute  more  liberally  to  the  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society.     I  went  to  the  Presbytery  in  Jacksonville 
the   last  of  March.     On  my  way  back  got  to  Rushville, 
sixty  miles  from  here,  on    Wednesday  ;   on  Thursday  it 
stormed ;  on  Friday,  eleven  a.m.,  left  my  wagon  and  wife 
so  as  to  get  home  for  the  Sabbath ;  the  cold  was  excessive, 


116  ASA    TUBNEB. 

the  storm  very  severe ;  nine  miles  on  my  way,  came  to  a 
creek ;  so  cold  I  dared  not  swim  ;  hired  a  man  to  build  a 
raft  and  help  me  across ;  swam  my  horse,  and  arrived  in 
season;  had  been  sick  five  weeks;  took  cold;  was  obliged 
to  swim  my  horse  three  times,  and  swim  with  her  twice, 
and  thus,  all  drenched  with  water,  ride  fifteen  miles  be- 
fore I  could  dry.  Brother  Sturtevant  promised  to  assist 
me  next  Sabbath.  I  accordingly  appointed  a  two  days' 
meeting.  But  a  letter  says  he  can  not  come.  So  I  shall 
be  obliged  to  fill  my  appointments  myself.  These  are 
some  of  the  difficulties;  but  these  are  very  small,  not 
worth  mentioning.  I  seldom  think  of  them  as  difficulties 
when  compared  with  others  —  no  place  of  worship  —  no 
school-house  —  thousands  around  perishing  for  lack  of 
knowledge  —  children  growing  up  in  ignorance  —  no  one 
/  to  care  for  their  souls  —  infidels  casting  in  poison  —  and 
prejudice  and  bigotry,  in  every  form,  among  those  who 
profess  the  name  of  the  Lord,  arraying  themselves  against 
the  truth." 

His  letters  and  reports  argue  fully,  indeed  elaborately, 
the  question  of  permanent  work  in  place  of  temporary 
agencies ;  and  the  necessity  of  his  continuous  fostering  of 
every  thing  Christian  set  on  foot.  Yet  he  writes  —  how 
many  have  done  the  same  in  this  more  than  half  a  century 
since  !  —  as  one  who  could  not  in  Christian  love  resist  the 
growing  appeals  from  the  broad  destitutions  about  him, 
and  the  necessity  for  widely  diffused  labors.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  detail  his  untiring  and  diversified  activity.  His 
mind  was  fertile  in  plan,  and  work  never  paused. 

He  had  strong  convictions  before  leaving  New  England 
as  to  the  need  of  Christian  laymen  on  the  frontiers.  At 
Andover,  Boston,  New  Haven,  and  New  York  he  pressed 
this  on  influential  men,  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  and  others. 
He  urged  that  groups  of  families  should  accompany  home 


WORK  OTHER    THAN  PASTORAL.  117 

missionaries,  helping  in  the  church,  Sabbath-school,  com- 
mon school,  fixing  the  character  of  towns,  giving  inactive 
Christians  something  to  do,  spreading  the  moral  power  of 
New  England,  and  effectually  aiding  to  save  the  West.  It 
is  impossible  at  this  later  day  to  see  the  emergency  as  it 
then  rose  before  his  eyes.  From  the  field  afterward  he 
often  repeated  his  arguments  and  persuasions.  He 
interested  individuals  and  families  ;  and  their  coming  to 
the  frontier  multiplied  centers  of  Christian  influences. 
He  thus  developed  agricultural  enterprise  and  skill,  busi- 
ness ability  and  integrity ;  but  his  object  was  to  promote 
the  cause  of  Christ.  Through  others  he  will  thus  bless 
two  great  central  commonwealths  of  the  nation  along  a 
future  whose  limit  can  not  be  foreseen. 

A  letter  to  him  from  Rev.  William  Kirby,  then  in  Cook 
County,  mentions  several  excellent  people  who  left  New 
England  to  join  the  Quincy  pastor,  but  paused  near 
Chicago.  Mr.  Turner's  letters  to  Mr.  Baldwin,  early  in 
1830,  are  full  of  the  plan  of  emigration  which  "  progresses 
finely."  "  It  is  of  vast  importance  to  settle  a  minister  in 
each  county  as  soon  as  possible.  Let  us  drive  to  this 
point.  This  is  the  object :  to  place  one  missionary  in 
every  county,  and  six  or  eight  pious  families,  .  .  .  without 
any  loss  to  New  England.  Show  them  what  a  field  there 
is  to  grow  in  grace  by  doing  good.  I  mean  to  bring  on  a 
colony  with  me."  Mr.  Ellis,  Mr.  Kent,  and  other  home 
missionaries  had  similar  views  of  lay  immigration.  In 
1833,  on  returning  West,  Mr.  Turner  brought  about 
twenty  with  him.  It  is  now  (1888)  proposed  to  revive 
the  old  Illinois  plan  elsewhere. 

He  was  equally  industrious  in  serving  those  who  came 
as  immigrants.  "  Sick  and  poor,  coming  by  long  sea- 
voyage,  then  four  weeks  by  canal-boats,  and  a  deck- 
jmssige  on  steamboats,  unable  to  perform  the  necessary 
iilihu  i-ns,  landed  here  to  crowd  into  some  uncomfortable 


118  ASA    TURNER. 

place,  surely  they  needed  the  friendly  hand,  sympathy,  and 
care.  Mr.  Turner  searched  them  out,  securing  necessary 
supplies,  and  finding  more  comfortable  situations.  From 
these  dark  places  where  cleanliness  was  unknown,  the 
delicate,  refined  pastor's  wife  shrank  not,  but  exerted  all 
her  energies  for  the  comfort  and  healing  of  these  suffering 
people.  She  would  take  sick  children  in  her  arms  and 
soothe  their  little  weary  frames,  soon,  we  knew,  to  be  laid 
to  rest.  Highly  advanced  in  education,  leaving  luxury 
for  privation,  far  away  from  loved  friends,  she  never 
yielded  to  depression,  but  her  lovely  intellectual  counte- 
nance was  beaming  with  smiles.  She  was  truly  a  help- 
meet, possessed  a  superior  mind  and  a  heart  devoted  to 
the  good  of  all." 

From  the  first,  Mr.  Turner  cared  for  the  neighboring 
counties  as  well  as  his  own  —  "  a  territory  ninety  miles  by 
thirty.  Some  with  tears  in  their  eyes  entreated  me  to 
send  them  a  minister  of  the  gospel.  In  one  place,  four 
persons  were  willing  to  pledge  one  hundred  dollars  per 
annum  to  support  preaching."  Incidents  like  this  were 
not  uncommon. 

"Attended  meetings  thirty-two  miles  east  of  Quincy, 
where  two  members  of  mv  church  reside.  I  found  them 
like  sheep  without  a  shepherd.  Two  years  ago  I  called  to 
stay  over  night,  and  when  the  lady  learned  that  I  was  a 
Presbyterian  minister,  she  wept  for  joy.  She  had  not  heard 
a  sermon  for  eighteen  months  from  one  of  her  own  order. 
...  A  Baptist  church  was  organized  during  the  summer, 
and  on  the  first  Sabbath  of  December,  the  Lord  willing,  I 
shall  organize  another  church  of  ten  or  twelve  members  " 
(1833).  He  watched  vigilantly  the  growth  of  population 
in  all  directions,  and  was  instant,  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  in  pointing  out  the  dangers  arising  from  moral  and 
religious  neglect. 

On  all  hands,  the  demands  for  his  services  were  rapidly 


WOBK  OTHEB    THAX  PAST  OB  AL.  119 

increasing.  His  fidelity  in  meeting  them  and  his  energy 
as  an  explorer  are  shown  in  that,  when  his  church  num- 
bered forty  "  save  one,"  his  territory  was  thirty  miles  long 
by  twenty  wide.  The  second  year  he  distributed  forty 
thousand  pages  of  tracts  in  town  and  country.  Scarcely 
a  tract  was  to  be  found  when  he  came,  nor  a  Bible  to  be 
bought  in  the  county,  and  hardly  a  religious  book.  He  felt 
keenly  the  loss  suffered  by  delay  in  starting  Christian 
influences.  "  Take,  for  instance,  Green  County ;  it  now 
numbers  about  nine  thousand.  If  a  faithful  minister  had 
been  located  there  ten  years  ago,  the  whole  county  might 
have  been  under  a  healthful  moral  influence,  but  now,  I 
tear,  many  of  the  rising  generation  are  beyond  hope." 

The  results  of  his  own  labors  in  Quincy,  within  a  few 
months,  give  emphasis  to  his  words.  One  of  his  elders 
wrote  to  New  York :  — 

u  In  November  last  our  dear  minister  came  like  an 
angel  of  mercy  among  us.  Soon  after,  we  organized  a 
Sabbath-school  with  fifty  or  sixty  scholars;  a  Bible  so- 
ciety that  has  since  supplied  this  county  and  half  of  an 
adjoining  one ;  male  and  female  Bible-classes ;  a  tract 
society;  and  a  temperance  society  which  now  contains 
between  one  and  two  hundred  members." 

A  visitor,  Rev.  John  M.  Ellis,  wrote  :  "  It  is  universally 
acknowledged  that  during  the  residence  of  Brother 
Turner  [then  nine  months],  a  most  clear  and  decided 
moral  improvement  has  been  witnessed." 

Early  in  1832  he  was  cheered  by  converts  and  inquirers, 
"  some  few  always  found.  Our  little  church  has  now 
increased  to  thirty-two  —  seventeen  added  on  profession  of 
their  faith."  The  American  Home  Missionary  Society's 
report  in  May  summed  up  thus :  "  Revival ;  twenty-four 
hopeful  converts ;  Sunday-school,  eighty ;  Bible-class, 
twenty-five  ;  seven  Sunday-schools  in  county." 

In  1833,  on  returning  with   Mrs.  Turner  from  a  long 


120  ASA    TUBNEB. 

absence  at  the  East,  they  were  more  than  a  month  on  their 
journey.  From  Baltimore  to  Frederick,  Md.,  there  were 
railroad  cars,  new,  drawn  each  by  two  horses,  driven 
tandem,  sixty  miles  a  day.  At  the  latter  place  they 
buried  an  infant  child.  4i  It  was  hard,"  he  wrote,  "  to 
have  it  torn  from  our  arms  while  on  a  journey,  without 
the  probability  of  ever  again  seeing  the  spot  where  it 
lies.  Still,  we  could  give  it  up  at  the  bidding  of  our 
heavenly  Father.  My  dear  wife  bore  this  affliction  with 
a  good  degree  of  Christian  fortitude,  and  I  trust  it  will 
make  us  both  more  alive  to  duty  and  more  active  in  our 
Master's  cause.  Found  our  little  church  in  a  more  active 
state  than  I  Reared ;  deprived  almost  entirely  of  ministra- 
tions for  the  past  six  months,  many  of  them  possessed 
an  unusual  spirit  of  prayer."  The  cholera  prevented 
special  meetings  on  both  sides  the  river.1  The  Methodist 
minister  was  the  first  to  die  in  Quincy.  In  January  Mr. 
Turner  reports  one  tenth  of  the  whole  population  carried 
off.  Nearly  half  left  during  the  cholera.  Sick  himself 
and  discouraged  by  this  dire  disease,  he  said:  "The 
prospects  of  doing  much  at  present  are  very  unfavorable." 
The  following  November  in  some  special  services  fifteen 
or  twenty,  it  was  thought,  were  converted.  He  was 
aided  by  Rev.  Mr.  Hardy,  who  had  been  at  Quincy  in  his 
absence  2  the  year  before,  and  by  Rev.  David  Nelson,  m.d., 
of  Missouri. 

*In  Missouri  it  was  even  more  severe.  "  Out  of  seven  or  eight  hundred  people 
at  Palmyra,  more  than  one  hundred  deaths."  Camp-meetings  began,  it  seems,  that 
side  the  river.  "  After  the  first,  in  which  there  are  sixty  conversions,  the  campaign 
is  arrested  by  the  cholera.  In  a  strain  of  heroic  sadness  Mr.  Turner  reports: 
1  When  these  calamities  are  overpast,  those  of  us  who  may  survive  will  try  again  to 
gather  in  the  lost  sheep.' "  —  Dr.  Roy.  At  Jacksonville  the  disease  "  swept  off  one 
quarter  of  the  population."  —  Dr.  M.  K.  Whittlesey. 

2  Solomon  Hardy  was  another  of  the  early  Andover  gifts  to  home  missions,  like 
John  M.  Ellis  and  Elbridge  G.  Howe.  He  was  born  at  Hollis,  N.  H.,  1796;  gradu- 
ated at  Middlebury,  1824;  graduated  at  Andover,  and  ordained  at  Boston,  1827; 
preached  at  Greenville,  Shoal  Creek,  Quincy,  and  Mendon,  111.,  and  South  Wellfleet 
and  Eastham,  Mass.,  and  was  agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  1831.  He  died 
at  Eastham,  1842. 


WORK  OTHER    THAX  PASTORAL.  121 

He  cared  industriously  for  all  the  churches  he  founded. 
One  of  these  was  at  Atlas,  forty-five  miles  south  of 
Quincy,  the  fruit  of  a  thrilling  revival  under  his  preach- 
ing and  that  of  Rev.  William  Carter.  "  He  would  ride 
on  horseback  to  Atlas,  preach  at  eight,  visit  the  next  day, 
preach  again  at  night,  and  so  on  ;  reach  home  Friday  night 
or  Saturday,  and  prepare  for  his  own  pulpit."  Another 
was  at  Pittsfield,  the  fruit  of  another  revival  under  his 
fervid  preaching.  He  entered  into  other  men's  distant 
labors  with  ready  and  self-sacrificing  zeal. 

In  May,  1834,  he  was  at  a  point  "  on  the  borders  of  the 
North-west  Territory ; '  "  whether  it  was  just  without  the 
northern  bound  of  Illinois  or  not'  was  undetermined. 
Rev.  A.  Kent  had  been  sent  thither  in  February,  1829, 
and  formed  a  church  of  six  members,  October,  1832. 
The  Methodists  had  had  a  "Galena  Mission"  in  182T; 
which  in  1832  and  afterwards  was  in  Cartwright's 
"  Quincy  District ; '  but  as  late  as  1856  he  wrote:  "By 
high  waters,  sickness  of  my  horses,  myself,  and  family, 
I  was  never  able  to  reach  a  single  appointment  in  Galena, 
and  to  this  day  I  have  never  seen  her  hills."  His 
Congregational  neighbor  out-traveled  him.  Mr.  Kent 
reported  at  New  York  in  April,  1834,  a  month  before 
Mr.  Turner  arrived  to  help  him :  "  It  is  now  five  years 
that  I  have  been  here,  and  in  all  that  time  have  not  had 
the  pleasure  of  hearing  a  Presbyterian  minister  preach  in 
Galena."  There  were  some  six  or  seven  thousand  people 
in  the  lead-mines  near.  Society,  law,  morals,  property, 
and  religion  were  what  they  have  been  since  in  Colorado, 
California,  and  the  Mountain  Territories.  The  busy  and 
excited  town  was  "  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  a 
book-store."  Mr.  Turner's  labors  on  this  remote  outpost 
of  civilization  were  abundant  and  appreciated  highly. 
The  next  year  he  went  to  Galena  again,  taking  Dr.  Nelson 
with  him  for  evangelizing  work. 


122  ASA    TUB  NEB. 

It  is  impossible  to  compute  the  "  outside '  work  this 
faithful  pastor  performed.  One  year,  when  over  seventy- 
five  members  were  received  at  Quincy,  he  was  yet  absent 
about  twenty  Sundays,  preaching  at  "  protracted  meet- 
ings "  and  in  places  destitute  of  religious  services.  "  Our 
church,"  he  said,  "  are  willing  I  should  go  when  I  deem  it 
my  duty,  and  I  think  the  Lord  blesses  them  more  on  this 
account." a 

1  "  He  was  accustomed  to  ride  in  all  directions,  preaching  wherever  a  few  could 
be  gathered  in  a  settler's  cabin,  unsparing  of  his  own  time  and  strength,  and 
always  ready  to  take  a  long  and  dreary  ride  and  face  swollen  creeks  without 
bridges  to  keep  an  appointment  or  to  render  a  service."  —  Letter  of  Lorenzo 
Bull,  Esq. 


r 


XVI. 

THE   PLANTING    OF    CONGREGATIONALISM   IN   ILLINOIS. 

The  polity  of  the  Pilgrims  was  no  more  indigenous  to 
prairie  soil  than  was  the  Christian  religion.  Two  adjoin- 
ing counties  of  the  Old  Bay  State  led  in  planting  it: 
Worcester  County,  by  contributing  a  home  missionary 
organizer ;  Hampshire,  by  furnishing  an  organized  church 
outright. 

Four  months  after  the  former  reached  Quincy,  the 
latter  was  constituted  in  an  orderly  way  at  Northampton, 
Mass.,  namely,  March  23,  1831.  Eighteen  persons  who 
were  part  of  a  Hampshire  colony  proposing  to  settle 
together  beyond  Lake  Michigan,  ten  men  and  eight 
women,  entered  into  covenant,  and  were  duly  recognized 
as  a  church.  Six  were  from  Belchertown,  the  rest  from 
Putney  (Vermont),  South  Hadley,  Amherst,  Springfield, 
Conway,  Warwick,  and  Northampton.  Churches  in  the 
first  two  places  and  the  last  were  represented  in  the 
council.  Rev.  Mr.  Pitman,  of  Putney,  was  moderator; 
Rev.  Lyman  Coleman,  of  Belchertown,  scribe,  and  Rev. 
I.  S.  Spencer,  of  Northampton,  preached  a  sermon  from 
Luke  12 :  32 :  "  Fear  not,  little  flock ;  for  it  is  your 
Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom."  At 
times  this  sermon  is  still  read  in  the  meetings  of  this 
church  of  Massachusetts  birth  in  its  adopted  home  in 
Illinois.  It  historically  connects  prairie  Congregationalism 
with  that  of  New  England. 

"The  council  was  followed  by  revival  meetings  in 
which  many  professed  to  commence  a  Christian  life.     The 


]24  ASA    TURNER. 

Saturday  evening  before  the  colony  began  their  journey 
West,  a  hundred  and  thirty-two  converts  met  at  their 
pastor's  house  in  a  farewell  meeting  for  two  of  their 
number  [colonists].  Special  services  were  also  held  in 
Conway "  for  four  others. 

Some  of  the  colonists  had  gone  forward  the  year  before. 
The  main  body  left  Albany,  N.  Y.,  on  the  Mohawk  Canal, 
with  Cotton  Mather,  of  Hadley,  for  captain,  May  7,  1831, 
and  in  five  weeks  and  two  days  reached  Bureau  County, 
111.  At  Greenfield,  111.,  thej^  all  held  their  first  church 
meeting,  October  21.  Thereafter,  and  till  now,  the  church 
has  been  that  of  Princeton.1  For  "  nearly  two  years  it  was 
the  whole  of  organized  Congregationalism  in  the  state."  2 
So  far  away  as  the  Mississippi  River  it  seems  to  have 
been  unknown. 

Then,  in  1833,  February  20,  a  second  church  was  organ- 
ized at  Mendon,  twelve  miles  north-east  of  Quincy,  and 
in  the  same  county.  Eighteen  Eastern  people,  members 
of  Mr.  Turner's  church,  composed  it,  though  he  seems  to 
have  hardly  been  aware  of  the  movement  till  after  his 
return  from  long  absence  East.  These  self-moved  Con- 
gregationalists  were  chiefly  from  old  Guilford,  Conn.,  and 
their  village  was  then  known  as  Guilford,  111.  Rev. 
Solomon  Hardy,  supplying  Mr.  Turner's  pulpit  in  his 
absence,  had  preached  there  on  week-days.  "  Our  con- 
fession of  faith,  based  upon  orthodox  principles,"  says  a 
committee  asking  home  missionary  aid,  "was  received 
without  a  single  remark.  The  members  gave  separately 
an  account  of  the  work  of  grace  in  their  hearts."     Rev. 


1Some  of  the  history  of  this  mother -church  is  in  the  succession  of  its  ministers. 
They  have  been:  L.  Farnham,  Owen  Lovejoy,  N.  A.  Keyes,  S.  D.Cochran,  D.D., 
W.  B.  Christopher,  S.  Day,  H.  L.  Hammond,  D.  H.  Blake,  Flavel  Bascom,  D.D., 
R.  B.  Howard,  Richard  Edwards,  ll.d.,  and  S.  A.  Norton. 

2Rev.  F.  Bascom,  D.D.,  Semi-Centennial  Sermon,  1881,  and  Address  at  State 
Association,  1885. 


CONGREGATIONALISM  IN  ILLINOIS.  125 

S.  Hardy  preached  on  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as  a  grain 
of  mustard  seed  (Matt.  13 :  31). 

The  next  Congregational  movement  in  Illinois  was  on 
the  other  side  of  the  state,  east  of  Princeton.  A  few  New 
England  families  on  Du  Page  Creek,  organized  in  July, 
1833,  and  the  church  is  now  that  of  Naperville.  That 
fall,  the  first  case  of  return  to  New  England  polity 
occurred,  making  Quincy  the  fourth  Congregational 
church  in  Illinois.  Even  here  the  pastor  did  not  lead 
off,  and  was  no  sectarian  theorist  or  partisan.  He  had 
been  an  orderly  Presbyterian  minister,  though  the  form  of 
government  did  not  approve  itself  to  his  convictions. 

"  It  was  said  that  Congregationalism  would  not  do  for 
the  West,  but  after  trying  Presbyterianism  for  three  years, 
it  was  thought  best  to  change  the  polity."  1  In  June  of 
that  year  (1833),  on  returning  from  the  East,  Mr.  Turner 
wrote  to  New  York :  "  My  church  are  all  Congregational- 
ists  in  their  feelings.  One  of  our  elders  is  gone;  we  can 
not  find  another  who  will  be  ordained.  They  claim  the 
privilege  of  worshiping  God  according  to  the  dictates  of 
conscience.  What  shall  be  done  ?  Eight  or  ten  Congre- 
gationalists  are  around  [us]  who  refuse  to  unite  with  us 
as  yet." 

Nearly  twenty  years  after,  in  a  speech  upon  the  Plan 
of  Union  between  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists, 
at  the  General  Convention  of  Congregational  Ministers 
and  Delegates  in  the  United  States,  held  at  Albany,  N.  Y., 
October  5-8,  1852,  he  said  :  — 

"  I  was  reared  and  educated  in  New  England,  and  I  was 
never  ashamed  of  my  mother ;  but  I  am  sorry  that  she  did 
not  teach  me  some  things  that  I  ought  to  have  known. 
Twenty-two  years  ago  I  removed  to  the  West.  I  had 
never  in  my  life  heard  a  sermon  upon  our  church  polity, 

1  Autobiography.  • 


126  ASA   TURNEB. 

and  had  never  seen  a  line  in  print  upon  the  subject.  I 
went  to  the  West  under  the  impression  that  it  was  neces- 
sary that  I  should  be  a  Presbyterian,  and  soon  after  arriving 
there  I  organized  a  church.  Every  thing  went  on  harmo- 
niously for  two  years,  but  soon  there  began  to  be  friction 
in  the  General  Assembly,  and  our  church  members  became 
restive ;  and  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
the  times  at  the  West  know  the  difficulties  we  had  to 
pass  through.  Our  religious  meetings  up  to  the  time  of 
the  Synod  [Illinois,  1833  ?]  were  like  political  meetings  of 
the  two  parties.  My  church  demanded  of  me  that  they 
should  be  Congregational.  I  hesitated  some  time  about 
acceding  to  their  wishes.  My  brethren  in  the  ministry 
all  opposed  the  idea.  A  good  father  in  the  Presbyterian 
church  sent  me  word  that  if  I  organized  a  Congregational 
church  he  must  come  out  against  me ;  and  one  of  the 
Presbyterian  fathers,  whose  name  is  revered  in  all  the 
land,  told  me  that  if  I  organized  one  in  Quincy  he  would 
come  and  preach  me  down.  But  I  organized  one,  and 
when  he  came  to  Quincy  I  told  him  that  after  we  got 
down  through  the  soil  in  Quincy  we  came  to  the  solid 
rock ;  that  the  Mississippi  had  not  washed  away  the  soil, 
and  I  thought  it  probable  it  never  would.  According  to 
the  Plan  of  Union,  when  a  church  is  to  be  organized, 
those  who  are  to  compose  it  are  to  have  a  choice  as  to  its 
form.  I  was,  however,  reproved  for  giving  my  church  its 
choice.  The  whole  feeling  was  that  Congregationalism 
must  be  frowned  down.  I  knew  of  no  Congregational 
church  in  the  West  at  that  time.1  Afterwards  I  found 
one,  but  was  told  that  the  minister  was  a  Unitarian.  And 
I  have  been  called  a  Unitarian  because  I  taught  principles 
which  I  received  in  New  England.  In  1837,  after  having 
organized  thirteen  churches  in  Northern  Illinois,  —  com- 

1  Mendon  had  not  organized ;  Princeton  was  farther  off  than  Boston  is  now. 


CONGBEGATIONALISM  IN  ILLINOIS.  127 

posed  of  those  who  had  asked  me  to  organize  them  thus, 
—  on  returning  to  New  England,  I  tried  to  present  myself 
before  an  association  in  Massachusetts,  and  they  did  not 
know  me.  They  regarded  it  as  a  heresy  that  I  should  be 
a  Congregationalist  from  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi." 

This  speech  —  which  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon  said  afterwards 
made  a  powerful  and  profound  impression  —  closed  thus:  — 

"  It  seems  to  me  the  brethren  at  the  East  should  settle 
the  question  whether  their  polity  is  in  accordance  with 
the  Word  of  God  or  not.  If  it  is,  then  take  it ;  and  if  it 
is  not,  reject  it.  .  .  .  But  I  ask  these  fathers  from  the  East 
that  they  should  be  willing  that  their  sons  and  daughters 
who  go  West  should  carry  their  own  faith  there." 

In  the  fall  of  1831  five  families  had  emigrated  in  com- 
pany from  New  Haven  and  vicinity  to  Illinois  who  had 
important  relation's  to  the  founding  of  these  churches. 
They  numbered  about  thirty  persons,  but  did  not  effect 
their  purpose  of  settling  together,  as  did  the  "  Hampshire 
Colony."  They  were  Abraham  Clark  and  family,  New 
Haven  (previously  of  Farmington)  ;  John  B.  Chittenden 
and  family,  Guilford ;  Samuel  Bradley  and  family,  Guil- 
ford ;  Mrs.  Wilson  and  two  sons,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Plant, 
who  returned  East.  One  pleasant  September  day  their 
carriages  and  wagons  for  the  long  journey  were  all  stand- 
ing in  front  of  Mr.  Clark's  house  in  New  Haven.  On  the 
doorstep  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  pastor  of  this  family,  —  who, 
as  a  native  of  Detroit,  sympathized  profoundly  with  this 
movement  of  Christian  laymen,  then  new  and  unique,  — 
standing  among  the  emigrants  and  many  of  his  Center 
Church  people,  offered  a  fervent  prayer  and  gave  the  out- 
going company  an  apostolic  benediction.  Any  one  who 
ever  knew  him  can  imagine  the  impressiveness  and  felici- 
tous aptness  of  his  words !  Across  the  country  in  their 
own  teams  they  journeyed,  traversing  Connecticut,  New 


128  ASA    TUBNEB. 

York,  and  Pennsylvania,  to  Pittsburgh.  Sabbath  days 
they  rested  "  according  to  the  commandment "  and  wor- 
shiped as  at  home.  At  Pittsburgh  the  horses  were  all 
attached  to  one  heavy  wagon,  the  carriages  shipped  on  a 
steamer,  and  after  six  weary  weeks  they  landed  at  Alton. 
The  next  Sabbath  they  made  a  large  and  welcome  addition 
to  the  little  congregation  and  Deacon  Long's  Sabbath- 
school  at  Alton.  Mr.  Chittenden  went  to  Quincy  and 
Bear  Creek  (and  Mendon) ;  Mr.  Bradley  also  to  Quincy ; 
the  Wilsons  to  Macoupin  County,  and  Mr.  Clark  to 
Jacksonville,  where  his  name  stood  second  among  the 
original  thirty-four  members,  organized  December  16, 
1833.  Jacksonville  and  Illinois  College  were  household 
words  among  Dr.  Bacon's  people  in  New  Haven  while 
they  lived  there. 

The  Congregational  church  of  Jacksonville,  unlike  the 
four  earlier  ones,  was  planted  by  the  side  of  a  home 
missionary  Presbyterian  church.  Its  founders  had  strong 
ecclesiastical  preferences,  though  willing  to  labor  zealously 
under  a  polity  they  did  not  enjoy.  Their  new  following 
of  "  the  New  England  way  "  was  not  without  excitement 
and  censure.  The  Plan  of  Union,  it  was  urged  on  one 
side,  was  designed  to  prevent  new  organizations  like  this. 
The  Plan  of  Union,  it  was  urged  on  the  other  side,  has 
worked,  or  "been  worked,  one-sidedly;  the  New  England 
framers  of  it  never  intended  it  should  keep  their  polity 
out  of  the  new  states,  as  it  has  done  and  is  doing.  It  is 
time  for  their  children  to  resist  this."  The  argument  and 
the  action  on  both  sides  were  destined  to  go  on  till  "  The 
Plan  "  itself  ceased  to  be. 

The  proceedings  at  Quincy  were  a  little  different  from 
those  now  related,  and  a  little  unique.  We  have  seen 
that  Mr.  Turner  was  not  the  mover.  Indeed,  in  all  these 
earliest  organizations  Congregational  laymen  urged  the 
ministers. 


CONGBEGATIONALISM  IN  ILLINOIS.  129 

"On  the  tenth  of  October,  1833,"  says  Dr.  Edward 
Anderson,  in  his  Historical  Discourse  (Quincy,  March, 
1879),  "  the  subject  of  dissolving  the  relations  of  the 
church  with  the  General  Assembly  was  taken  under 
consideration,  Rev.  Asa  Turner  being  in  the  chair.  It 
was  voted  unanimously  that  this  church  be  re-organized 
according  to  the  Congregational  system."  It  then  had 
forty-one  members. 

Dr.  Bascom's  account  is  as  follows :  "  Rev.  Asa  Turner 
was  a  very  successful  pastor.  Although  he  and  his  church 
belonged  to  Presbytery,  it  is  quite  probable  some  Congre- 
gational methods  mingled  in  the  administration  of  their 
affairs,  for  in  1833  a  Presbyterian  minister,  looking  over 
their  church  records,  remarked  that  they  would  not  bear 
the  inspection  of  Presbytery.  So  the  church  decided  to 
keep  their  records  in  their  own  way,  and  not  trouble 
Presbytery  to  review  them." 

That  Mr.  Turner  not  only  felt  the  pressure  from  his 
lay  brethren,  and  believed  in  their  rights,  has  been  made 
clear.  That  he  sympathized  with  the  "  New  School  "  and 
anti-slavery  elements  in  Presbytery,  Synod,  and  Assembly, 
and  strongly  disrelished  the  dissensions  in  the  denomina- 
tion, goes  without  saying.  His  manly  and  Christian 
character  and  New  England  antecedents  settled  this. 

President  Sturtevant,  at  the  Yale  Seminary  Centennial, 
observed:  "Within  four  years  from  the  arrival  of  the 
pioneers  of  the  New  Haven  Association  on  their 
missionary  field,  the  first  three  Congregational  churches 
of  the  state  were  organized  —  no  sister  churches  nearer 
than  North-east  Ohio,  five  hundred  miles  away.  Of  one 
of  these  churches,  Quincy,  Asa  Turner  was  the  father 
and  the  first  pastor.  Another  member  of  the  [Yale] 
Association,  Julian  M.  Sturtevant,  took  the  prominent  part 
in  organizing  at  Jacksonville,  officiating  at  [the]  public 


130  ASA   TURNEB. 

recognition,  when  it  had  been  found  impossible  to  obtain 
the  services  of  any  other  ordained  minister  in  all  the 
region,  and  availing  himself  of  the  opportunity  thus 
afforded  to  make  a  solemn  declaration  of  his  hearty 
acceptance  of  the  principles  of  government  and  disci- 
pline upon  which  that  church  was  organized."  (Mr. 
Turner  was  to  have  performed  the  part  he  took,  but 
was  prevented  by  sickness.)  "When  the  true  history 
of  Congregationalism  in  Illinois  is  written,  it  will  appear 
that  several  members  of  the  Association  [Yale]  sustained 
a  relation  to  it  truly  parental.  Among  these,  Asa  Turner, 
William  Kirby,  and  William  Carter  are  certainly  to  be 
reckoned.  It  should  also  be  mentioned  in  this  connection 
that  if  we  seek  the  true  parentage  of  Congregationalism 
in  Iowa  we  shall  find  it  in  Asa  Turner.  He  is  its  true 
father." 

June,  1834,  a  council  composed  mostly  of  Presbyterians 
was  held  at  Fountaindale  (Du  Page),  to  advise  the 
churches  about  changing  to  Congregationalism.  It  was 
the  first  Congregational  council  ever  held  in  Illinois,  and 
its  advice  Congregational,  namely,  for  every  church  to  do 
as  it  pleased,  which  they  did  ! 

In  August  and  November,  churches  were  formed  at 
Atlas  and  Griggsville,  Pike  County.  That  autumn  these 
joined  the  Mendon  and  Quincy  churches  in  forming  the 
first  District  Association,  "for  mutual  helpfulness  and 
cooperation."  "At  their  meeting  in  Quincy,  the  four 
were  represented  by  delegates,  but  the  only  ministers 
present,"  says  Dr.  Bascom,  "  were  Asa  Turner  and 
William  Carter,  both  members  of  Presbytery.  They, 
however,  rendered  important  aid  in  preparing  articles  of 
faith,  constitution,  and  rules."  "  This  pioneer  association 
was  really  more  significant,"  says  President  Sturtevant, 
"  than  it  seemed.     It  showed  how  practicable  for  the  sons 


CONGBEGATIONALISM  IN  ILLINOIS.  131 

of  New  England  in  their  new  prairie  homes  was  the  simple 
church  order  of  their  fathers."  That  year  churches  began 
at  Plainfleld  and  Big  Grove ;  in  1835  came  the  Fox  River 
Union,  one  of  its  four  churches  at  Michigan  City,  Ind.; 
in  1838,  a  Rock  River  Association  (though  the  present 
one  was  formed  in  May,  1851)  ;  in  1844,  the  State  Asso- 
ciation. 

Mr.    Turner   was     not   led   by   any  lack   of   Christian 
charity  into  Congregationalism,  nor  by  any  felt  lack  of  it 
in  his  brethren  of  the  other  polity.     He  had  written  to 
New  York,  January  3,  1831 :  "  There  is  the  most  cordial 
union   among   all   the    Presbyterian   brethren   here.      No 
polemic  contention.     All  are  of  one  heart,  I  might  almost 
say  of  one  belief.     I  might  make  one  exception,1  if  all  that 
is  said  is  true."     The  next  April,  at  what  must  have  been 
the  first  ecclesiastical  meeting  he  attended,  at  Jacksonville, 
he  wrote :  "  There  is  the  greatest  harmony  of  feeling  and 
sentiment   in  this  Presbytery."     I  am  not  aware  of  any 
particular   public   events   occurring   in  the    Presbyterian 
body    which  influenced    him,  save    the    trial   of   Albert 
Barnes.     He  had  become  acquainted  with  Missouri  Pres- 
byterianism  and   slavery,  which  no  doubt  had  its  effect 
upon  him.     One  who  had  unusual  opportunities  to  know 
says :  u  Mr.  Turner  joined  the  Presbytery  on  coming  to 
Illinois,  and  was  intent  only  on  the  spread  of  the  gospel. 
But  the  warfare  between   the  Old  School  and  the  New 
School,  and  the  electioneering  for  Commissioners  to  the 
General  Assembly,  aroused  his  Congregationalism."     This 
must  have  been  in  1832  and  1833. 

Dr.  Sturtevant  says  of  the  associates  from  Yale,  that 
they  "  had,  at  the  outset,  no  denominational  aim  whatever. 
Their  only  object   was  to  aid  in  evangelizing  the  great 

1  The  minister  referred  to  seems  to  have  held  extreme  Old  School  views.    This 
reference  implies  no  distinct  personal  knowledge,  however. 


132  ASA    TUB  NEB. 

valley,  and  in  filling  it  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord, 
and  doubtless  they  expected  to  do  their  life-work  as  Pres- 
byterians." 

But  the  controversy  in  the  Presbyterian  body  "shook 
it  as  with  a  great  earthquake  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  Upon  such  minds  as  had  gone  into  the  mis- 
sionary work  from  New  England,  it  produced  a  deep  and 
abiding  conviction  that  it  was  not  the  church  of  their 
fathers  nor  of  their  youth,  and  that  in  it  they  could  not 
fight  the  battle  of  life  either  with  freedom  or  efficiency." 

Yet  there  was  not  a  little  wonder  in  New  England  at 
the  position  which,  under  these  convictions,  these  earnest 
young  men  assumed.  Mr.  Turner  says :  "  Most  of  the 
New  England  brethren  associated  with  me  were  opposed 
to  the  formation  of  Congregational  churches  ;  but  with  one 
exception  they  all  came  over  to  the  Congregational  side, 
and  that  one  looked  on  the  form  of  government  as  of 
little  importance."1  Of  those  who  were  dead  in  1872, 
"  all  had  returned,"  says  President  Sturtevant  "  to  the 
order  of  their  fathers,  most  of  them  early  in  their 
ministry." 

Mr.  Turner  was  sought  on  all  sides  for  counsel  and  aid. 
He  assisted  in  organizing  Congregational  churches  at 
Payson,  Griggsville,  Plymouth,  Round  Prairie,  Carthage, 
La  Harpe,  and  Warsaw.  How  his  own  church  pros- 
pered as  Congregational  is  shown  by  its  becoming  self- 
supporting  in  eight  months,  and  sending  off  two  colonies 
in  two  years  and  a  half.  It  had  but  fifty-five  members 
when  it  notified  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society 
that  it  could  pay  its  own  way,  raised  two  hundred  dollars 
for  pastor's  salary  for  six  months,  and  thirty  dollars  to 
make  him  a  life  member  of  the  American  Home  Mission- 
ary Society.      In  the  first  year  under  the  new  polity  it 

The  remark  points  to  Mr.  Hale. 


CONGBEGATIONALISM  IN  ILLINOIS.  133 

gave  three  hundred  and  sixty  dollars  to  benevolent  objects, 
and  received  nearly  eighty  members.  Of  these  forty-five 
were  converts,  and  eighteen  of  them  joined  at  one  com- 
munion. It  furnished  Bibles  besides  for  every  house  in 
the  county,  laid  off  ground  for  a  camp-meeting, — 
expending  five  hundred  dollars  upon  it,  —  and  bought  a 
church  bell.  Of  the  new  members  three  were  converted 
from  zealous  advocacy  of  universal  salvation.  The  whole 
membership  rose  to  a  hundred  and  twenty  —  a  large  one 
for  a  frontier  church.  The  pastor  was  too  busy  saving 
men  to  suffer  much  from  censure  for  restoring  the  old 
paths,  and  so  were  his  people.  None  of  his  fraternal 
relations  were  disturbed.  The  experiment  of  the  New 
England  order  far  west  of  "  Byram  River  "  was  a  success. 


XVII. 

EBONTIEB   SABBATHS.  —  TEMPEBANCE.  —  MISSIONS. 

It  is  the  testimony  of  an  early  governor  of  Illinois 
that  where  Sabbath  observance  was  introduced  new 
communities  rapidly  improved,  and  where  it  was  not 
there  came  a  standstill  or  a  retrograde  movement. 
"Such  neighborhoods  are  pretty  certain  to  breed  up  a 
rough,  vicious,  ill-mannered,  and  ill-natured  race  of  men 
and  women."     All  other  testimony  is  to  the  same  effect. 

Taking  with  him  to  the  West  his  Puritan  reverence  for 
the  Sabbath  as  a  divine  ordinance,  Mr.  Turner  was  tested 
on  the  way  as  to  practical  loyalty  to  it.  Engaging  a 
through  passage  on  the  canal,  he  expected  to  arrive  at 
Cleveland  by  the  end  of  the  week.  When  he  ordered 
his  baggage  taken  off  ninety-three  miles  distant,  because 
it  was  nigh  unto  the  Lord's  day,  the  objection  was  made 
that  no  boat  might  pass  for  many  days.  At  the  risk  of 
being  thought  strait-laced,  unreasonable,  and  unmindful 
of  his  interests,  he  persisted.  "  The  event  showed  that  I 
should  have  gained  nothing  by  violating  the  holy  day. 
For  we    overtook   them    [those    who   had   gone   forward 

Sunday]    next    day   about    twenty   miles    from    D , 

detained  by  a  breakage  in  the  canal." 

He  once  left  an  Upper  Mississippi  steamer  Saturday 
afternoon,  in  Northern  Missouri,  where  not  a  cabin  was 
to  be  seen.  In  a  walk  of  a  few  miles  into  the  interior  he 
reached  a  number  of  wilderness  dwellings,  held  Sabbath 
worship  to  the  great  joy  of  all,  where  none  had  ever  been 
held,  and  was  set  forward  to  advantage  early  Monday 
morning  on  another  boat. 


FBONTIEB  SABBATHS.  135 

Later  pioneers  had  experiences  of  the  same  kind.  In 
1844,  the  writer,  with  two  ministerial  brethren,  Dr.  J.  C. 
Holbrook  and  Prof.  Erastus  Ripley,  sought  to  land  on  the 
Ohio  Saturday  evening.  The  promise  of  the  officers  of 
the  boat  had  been  since  Wednesday  ■ —  all  the  way  down 
from  Cincinnati  —  that  we  should  reach  St.  Louis  before 
Sunday.  The  holy  day  was  passed  by  us  at  Hawesville, 
Ky.,  in  no  great  comfort,  but  with  one  opportunity  of 
preaching  the  gospel.  Reaching  St.  Louis  Wednesday 
morning,  on  another  boat,  we  found  our  companions  only 
an  hour  ahead  of  us — some  of  them  elders,  one  a  preacher, 
several  Christian  women.  The  next  Sabbath  we  all  three 
preached  in  the  court-house  at  Fort  Madison  for  Rev.  J. 
A.  Clark  (morning,  afternoon,  and  evening),  to  a  people 
eager  to  hear,  and  Tuesday  morning  were  overtaken  at 
Burlington  by  the  boat  and  the  fellow-Christians  that  had 
been  out  two  Sabbaths. 

Constant  references  to  Sabbath-breaking  in  town  and 
country  in  the  Quincy  minister's  correspondence  indicate 
how  stubborn  an  obstacle  to  the  saving  power  of  the  gos- 
pel he  found  this  sin  to  be.  One  of  his  arguments  for 
concentration  of  work  was :  "  The  habits  of  the  people 
are  wrong  in  many  respects,  especially  in  regard  to  the 
Sabbath.  The  great  majority  of  the  people  and  many  of 
the  preachers  do  not  regard  the  Sabbath  as  *  holy  time.' 
It  is  not  very  usual  to  see  men  engaged  in  out-door  labors, 
but  where  the  gospel  is  not  preached  every  Sabbath  (and 
by  many  where  it  is)  the  Sabbath  is  spent  in  hunting, 
lounging,  drinking,  gambling,  and  perhaps  more  sin  is 
committed  than  on  any  other  day."  How  little  some 
preachers  did  to  check  this  is  shown  by  what  was 
reported  and  believed  of  one  of  them  in  Southern 
Illinois,  that  after  preaching  one  Sunday  he  gave  notice 
that  he  "  would  preach  the  next  Sunday  if  it  should  not 
he  a  good  bee-day." 


136  ASA    TURNER. 

"  Occasional  preaching  never  will  correct  this  eviL 
Many  will  go  to  hear  a  sermon  once  in  two  or  four 
weeks,  if  they  can  do  their  own  pleasure  the  rest  of  the 
time.  To  change  the  habits  of  a  village  and  produce  any 
thing  like  a  correct  moral  feeling  in  regard  to  the  Sabbath, 
there  must  be  line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept.  The 
people  read  but  little  and  think  less.  Therefore  when  any 
impression  is  made  by  the  gospel  at  a  given  time,  it  is  too 
often  worn  off  before  another  sermon."  A  principled 
observance  of  the  day,  moreover,  was  looked  upon  with 
prejudice  as  "  puritanical '  and  "  Yankee,"  neither  Euro- 
pean nor  Southern.  Enemies  of  God's  Word  were  proved 
then  in  early  Illinois  to  be  —  as  they  ever  have  been  on  the 
frontier  elsewhere  —  enemies  of  the  Lord's  day.  A  good 
example  was  not  sufficient  to  rescue  the  day  from  desecra- 
tion. Instruction,  defence,  argument,  anxious  appeal, 
were  constantly  needed  to  keep  even  professing  Chris- 
tians from  falling  into  it.  Without  a  sanctuary  little 
progress  could  be  made. 

It  was  two  years  nearly  before  this  was  secured.  "  It 
was  unpainted,  and  had  no  cushion,  carpet,  or  other  piece 
of  upholstering."  It  stood  south  of  the  square  in  Quincyr 
between  Maine  Street  and  Jersey,  "  separated  only  by  a 
paling  from  Mr.  Felt's  garden."  "  The  only  structure- 
devoted  to  religious  purposes,  a  long,  low  frame-building, 
an  ugly,  clap-boarded  shed ; "  but  a  place  of  glowing 
memories  and  sacred  associations.  It  cost  great  labor 
and  privation.  "  Very  little  money  was  used  in  its 
erection,  for  there  was  but  little.  In  the  rear  of  it, 
and  perched  on  two  poles,  was  the  bell,  the  rope  of 
which  came  into  the  church  through  a  hole  behind  the 
pulpit." 1 

*Dr.  E.  Anderson,  Historical  Discourse.    An  early  resident  says,  "through  an 
attic  window." 


FRONTIER   SABBATHS.  137 

One  member,  with  about  two  hundred  dollars,  gave  to 
the  church  building  fifty  dollars,  and  to  other  objects 
thirty  dollars  more  annually.  "  No  one,"  wrote  the 
minister,  "is  worth  one  thousand  dollars.  No  one  yet 
has  any  house  to  live  in  except  a  log  cabin.  We  are 
determined  to  have  a  house  to  worship  God  in,  if  we 
continue  to  live  in  our  cabins,  and  we  have  commenced 
one."  Up  to  this  time  worship  had  been  held  in  a  room 
over  a  store,  seventeen  feet  by  twenty-one  in  size. 

The  new  sanctuary,  says  Lorenzo  Bull,  Esq.,  "  was  the 
cradle  out  of  which  have  come  most  of  the  Protestant 
churches  of  Quincy."  Says  another  early  citizen,  General 
John  Tillson :  "  Almost  every  church  in  Quincy,  every 
form  of  sectarian  organization,  is  an  offshoot,  or,  as  one 
might  say,  a  shingle  from  'God's  Barn.'"  It  was  under 
this  sobriquet  the  humble  building  became  popular  and 
historic ;  few  of  early  days  west  of  the  Lakes  more  so. 
It  was  made  memorable  "by  the  faithful  fervor  of  the 
lamented  Turner,  by  the  learning  of  Nelson,  and  the 
originality  of  Foote." 

"  Here  Mr.  Turner  preached  three  times  every  Sunday, 
usually  with  Deacon  Felt,  a  great  snuff-taker  and  very 
deaf,  facing  the  audience  immediately  under  the  pulpit, 
and  Judge  Snow,  also  an  inveterate  snuff-taker,  near  by, 
leading  the  singing  with  a  bass-viol. 

"Mr.  Turner  was  an  emotional  man,  easily  moved  to 
tears  either  in  or  out  of  the  pulpit.  He  rarely  preached 
without  more  or  less  overflow,  and  at  such  times  the 
thoughtless  sometimes  said :  '  Deacon  Felt  is  taking  snuff 
and  it  gets  into  the  parson's  eyes.' 

"A  trifling  incident  shows  the  freedom  of  the  times 
and  his  occasional  eccentric  methods.  He  was  preach- 
ing one  hot  summer  afternoon,  with  an  audience  too 
sleepy  to  listen.     A  boy  of  fourteen,  I  was  sitting  directly 


138  ASA    TUBNEB. 

in  front,  and  nodding  with  the  rest.  Suddenly  he  stopped 
in  his  sermon,  and  waiting  an  instant  called  out  with  a 
loud  voice,  ■  Lorenzo  ! '  I  started  as  if  shot ;  the  whole 
congregation  was  awake  in  a  moment;  and  without  an- 
other word  he  went  on  with  his  sermon." 1 

Home  missionaries  are  of  necessity  temperance  workers. 
The  saloon  will  keep  out  the  church,  or  kill  it  out  if  it 
can.  With  all  his  heart  Mr.  Turner  entered  into  the 
temperance  reform  which  the  Illinois  frontier  so  sorely 
needed.  He  was  indefatigable  in  this  line  of  labor.  His 
neighbor,  Rev.  C.  L.  Watson,  of  Rushville,  made  the  first 
temperance  address  on  the  Military  Tract,  and  organized 
the  first  temperance  society,  1829,  soon  after  his  own 
ordination.  The  day  he  and  Mr.  Turner  organized  the 
Quincy  church,  this  body  took  its  first  church  action  as 
follows :  — 

"Resolved,  (1)  That  we  deem  it  the  duty  of  every 
Christian  to  abstain  entirely  from  ardent  spirits  as  a 
common  beverage ;  even  if  any  one  should  esteem  the  use 
beneficial  to  himself."  A  second  resolution  pledged  the 
church  to  total  abstinence  from  it  "  except  as  a  medicine." 
A  third  declared  total  abstinence  "  an  indispensable  term 
of  admission"  to  the  church.  Those  frontier  Christians 
began  at  the  beginning !  In  view  of  the  general  habits  of 
immigrants,  Mr.  Turner  considered  this  step  indispens- 
able. He  deemed  it  eminently  in  keeping  with  the 
objects  of  the  Head  of  the  Church,  as  to  current  sins,  to 
set  up  a  special  safeguard  at  just  this  point.  In  less  than 
eighteen  months  from  his  arrival  he  could  say :  "  Our 
village  is  almost  as  quiet  on  public  days  as  on  the 
Sabbath.  The  great  majority  of  our  citizens  can  now 
come  to  town  and  do  their  business  without  the  aid  of 
whiskey."     When    a    few    miles    away    another   church 

1  Letter,  etc. 


FBONTIEB   SABBATHS.  139 

(Mendon)  was  organized,  the  members  "unanimously 
pledged  themselves  to  abstain  from  the  common  use  of 
distilled  spirits,"  after  the  Quincy  precedent. 

This  was  largely  due  to  the  "  one  sectarian  feature  "  of 
the  Quincy  church.  A  lay  member  ascribed  it  largely  to 
the  minister.  "Intemperance  is  almost  destroyed  here. 
Mr.  Turner  has  been  the  instrument  of  it.  The  story  has 
gone  abroad,  '  Quincy  is  a  reformed  place.' '  Mr.  Turner 
said  of  those  who  wished  to  profess  Christ,  provided 
"liberty"  of  drinking  were  allowed  them:  "Even  if  Paul 
should  rise  from  the  dead  and  offer  himself  on  the  same 
conditions,  I  should  deny  him."  When  the  organization 
took  place,  two  of  those  who  were  weak  on  the  liquor 
question  were  providentially  kept  away.  They  had  made 
him  much  difficulty.  That  night,  however,  one  of  them 
subscribed  to  the  church  "  prohibition  by  constitution." 
"He  appears  like  a  real  penitent,"  the  grateful  minister 
hastened  to  bear  witness,  "  a  meek  and  lowly  follower  of 
Jesus,  and  we  have  confidence  that  he  will  adorn  his 
profession." 

How  the  good  man  from  the  outset  must  needs  contend 
with  the  "  environment "  of  his  people,  he  saw  at  a  county 
election  held  just  after  his  arrival.  "  Whiskey  was  passed 
round  the  court-house "  to  influence  votes.  Another 
incident  a  little  later  was  instructive  to   him.     "  There 

is   a   preacher   here.      He    joined    the    temperance 

society  when  it  was  formed.  A  few  days  since  he  took 
whiskey  in  company  with  others  at  the  invitation  of  one 
of  our  worst  men.  After  he  had  drunk  he  said  he  did  it 
on  purpose  to  get  his  name  off  the  list  [of  members]. 
The  more  pious  and  intelligent  will  not  go  with   him." 

It  is  not  the  severest  task  in  forming  communities  to 
disentangle  "the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus"  from  doctrinal 
errors  taught  by  professed  preachers,  but  rather  to  show 


140  ASA    TURNER. 

that  this  truth  allows  no  wrong  practice  accompanying 
such  errors  in  the  life. 

Now  and  then  an  amusing  incident  lights  up  the  dim- 
ness of  those  early  days,  and  reveals  the  "rough-and- 
ready  "  type  of  men  he  had  to  deal  with.  "  He  met  on  the 
streets  one  day  a  farmer  who  almost  invariably  got  very 
drunk  and  noisy  whenever  he  came  to  &own.  Finding 
that  he  had  just  come  in  and  was  quite  sober,  he  asked 
him  to  dinner.  After  dinner  he  opened  a  conversation, 
hoping  to  influence  him  to  a  more  temperate  life.  The 
farmer  was  a  man  of  fair  intelligence,  quite  ready  to  argue 
either  upon  temperance  or  religious  subjects,  and  seemed 
to  be  convinced  by  Mr.  Turner's  appeal :  who,  in  turn, 
was  much  encouraged  by  the  hope  of  his  improvement. 
But  during  a  pause  in  the  conversation,  the  farmer  drew 
a  bottle  of  whiskey  from  his  pocket,  saying,  '  Parson, 
talking  is  dry  work,  let 's  take  something.' '  "  I  believe," 
says  the  old  settler  who  relates  this,  "  Mr.  Turner  never 
made  any  further  effort  to  reform  Mike  Dodd." 

Intemperance  on  the  frontier  is  accompanied  with  many 
other  barbaric  and  semi-barbaric  customs.  Mr.  Turner 
took  out  with  him  from  Massachusetts  in  May,  1833,  two 
brothers,  carpenters,  who  worked  for  him  on  an  unfinished 
house  he  was  building  for  himself.  One  day  a  carpenter 
of  the  village,  who  had  done  some  work  upon  it,  came  in 
and  charged  one  of  the  two  "  Yankees  "  with  having  made 
disparaging  remarks  upon  his  work.  The  reply  was,  that 
there  was  some  of  it  the  New  Englander  "  did  not  think 
much  of."  A  blow  followed,  and  an  attempt  to  seize  a 
hatchet  by  the  villager,  which  was  prevented  by  the 
brother  who  was  near  the  bench.  It  was  then  agreed  to 
settle  it  at  night-fall  on  the  public  square  —  "a  ring 
formed,  as  was  the  custom,"  and  after  a  fight  of  an  hour 
or  two,  the  "  Sucker,"  "  a  powerful  man  and  a  practiced 
fighter,  obtained  an  easy  victory." 


FBOXTIEB   SABBATHS.  141 

Christian  influences  have  to  go  far,  in  quiet  and  unde- 
monstrative ways,  to  tame  native  savagery,  before  such 
customs  disappear  from  the  frontier.  Temperance  and 
the  suppression  of  liquor-selling  do  much  to  bring  this 
about.  Direct  public  opposition,  such  as  Sabbath-breaking 
and  drunkenness  call  for,  is  hardly  the  wisest  agency. 
But  what  shall  we  say  of  centers  of  civilization  like  Boston 
and  London,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1888,  excited  over 
prize-fighters  ?  Was  the  frontier  ever  more  brutal  ?  Is  it 
certain  that  refinement  and  all  the  improvements  humanize 
men? 

One  of  the  good  things  that  went  to  Quincy  in  1830 
from  New  Haven  and  Hartford  was  a  zeal  for  missions. 
Home  missionary  zeal  started  the  monthly  concert  within 
the  first  few  weeks.  The  contagion  spread.  Bible,  tract, 
Sabbath-school  work,  etc.,  were  carried  on  "  entirely  by  ten 
individuals,  mostly  by  seven."  The  flock  was  small,  but 
self-denial  was  large. 

The  people  "  thought  they  could  collect  fifty  or  sixty 
dollars."  He  was  able  to  report  seventy-five  dollars  given 
to  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions ;  the  same  amount  to  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society,  and  eighty  dollars  to  the  American  Education 
Society,  —  a  token  of  appreciation  of  ministerial  training 
hardly  shown  in  these  wealthy  days.  Moreover,  "the 
sisters  wish  to  raise  for  the  coming  year  fifty  dollars  for 
the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  (additional). 
As  a  proof  of  our  affection,  we  mean  to  contribute."  An 
elder  had  written  to  New  York  earlier :  "  It  was  thought 
by  some  that  we  should  manifest  our  feeling  for  the 
heathen  by  giving  a  part  for  their  benefit,  while  most 
thought  it  should  all  be  given  to  your  society.  Tell  me 
how  to  dispose  of  it  in  a  way  that  shall  best  satisfy  our 
generous  benefactors  that  we  4  are  willing  to  do  something 
to  spread  the  gospel.'  " 


142  ASA    TUBNEE. 

In  1835  this  frontier  people  gave  one  hundred  dollars 
at  a  monthly  concert  to  the  American  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions,  for  China.  The  fact  moved 
distant  Christians.  A  deacon  in  Torringford,  Conn.,  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Turner,  called  it  "a  cheering  fact.  The 
members  of  your  church  have  a  desire,"  he  added,  "to 
drive  sin  not  only  from  their  own  hearts,  but  from  the 
whole  world.  It  appears  that  they  believe  that  the 
people  of  China  have  souls  capable  of  sinning  and  suffer- 
ing throughout  eternity,  and  that  the  gospel  is  the  only 
remedy."  Barely  eleven  months  before,  the  church  had 
leaned  on  home  missionary  aid. 


XVIII. 

GENERAL   EVANGELIZING   LABORS. 

August,  1831:  "Just  returned  from  a  tour  to  Green, 
Morgan,  and  Schuyler  counties.  Three  four  days'  meet- 
ings in  succession  at  Carrollton,  at  Jacksonville,  and  at 
Jersey  Prairie.  The  blessing  of  the  Lord  seemed  to 
accompany  them  all.  At  Carrollton  we  formed  a  church ; 
something  like  a  dozen  placed  themselves  among  the 
anxious.  At  Jacksonville,  much  blessed;  eight  or  ten 
hoping  in  the  mercy  of  God ;  one  or  two  from  college. 
Only  one  at  Jersey  Prairie,  but  we  left  many  under  deep 
conviction  for  sin.  ...  If  I  could  gain  the  consent  of  the 
church  at  Quincy,  I  should  almost  feel  it  my  duty  to  spend 
a  year  or  two  in  laboring  in  this  part  of  the  field  gener- 
ally."    Another  season  :  "  I  have  been  with  ,  at  five 

four  days'  meetings." 

He  kept  no  record  of  these  or  any  other  labors.  He 
was  specially  averse  to  giving  any  account  of  his  successes, 
though  ever  ready  to  tell  rejoicingly  of  those  of  others, 
and  to  magnify  the  wonder-working  power  of  God's  grace 
and  truth.  Every  thing  of  this  kind  was  not  reported 
then  by  the  press,  as  now.  The  following  account  of  the 
transformation  of  a  single  community  is  therefore  of  rare 
interest  and  value. 

"  Among  the  first  settlers  of  A were  four  brothers 

from  P ,   Mass.,  Captain  R.,  Colonel  R.,  Dr.  R.,  and 

another  (name  forgotten).  Captain  R.  was  a  graduate 
of  West  Point.  The  brothers  urged  me  to  make  them  a 
visit,  and  bring  some  of  our  people  (forty  miles).    I  said  I 


144  ASA    TUBNEB. 

would  if  they  would  let  me  preach  four  days  and  attend 
the  meetings.  They  promised  to  do  it.  I  was  a  Yankee 
from  Massachusetts,  and  they  from  the  same  state ;  it 
made  the  relation  very  strong  in  their  estimation.  But 
the  prejudice  against  Yankees  was  very  strong.  When  I 
wished  to  go,  I  wrote  stating  the  time.  We  had  had  an 
interesting  time  in  our  church  at  Quincy,  and  fifteen  of  us 
went  down. 

"  We  found  them  very  sour.  Most  of  them  had  made 
up  their  minds  not  to  attend.  I  called  on  Dr.  R.;  was 
very  glad  to  see  him,  but  he  did  not  seem  glad  to  see  me. 
He  went  with  me  as  far  as  the  door  of  the  school-house, 
politely  bowed  me  in,  and  went  home.  Not  a  single  indi- 
vidual in  the  village  attended  that  meeting.  We  felt  very 
small. 

"  The  next  night  a  few  attended.  I  asked  an  old  friend 
of  Captain  R.  to  go  and  get  him.  He  failed,  but  Captain 
R.  promised  to  go  the  next  night  (Saturday).  Sunday 
the  house  was  full.  At  night  I  asked  if  there  were  any 
who  would  come  forward.  To  my  astonishment,  Captain 
R.  was  the  first  to  come. 

"Two  weeks  after  I  organized  a  church  of  fourteen. 
When  I  reached  Captain  R.'s,  I  found  him  in  bed  in  con- 
sequence of  leaving  off  his  quart  a  day  of  spirits.  He 
had  told  the  hands  on  his  farm  that  as  he  had  hired  them 
with  the  expectation  of  having  spirits,  he  would  supply 
them  to  the  end  of  the  time  they  were  hired  for,  but  would 
be  glad  if  they  would  leave  off  with  him.  He  formed  a 
temperance  society  of  seventy  members.  The  grocery 
keeper  said  that  'that  meeting  took  over  five  hundred 
dollars  out  of  his  pocket.'  He  (Captain  R.)  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  playing  cards  and  drinking  on  the  boats. 
After  this  none  that  went  dared  play  cards  or  drink.  I 
attended  him  in  his  last  sickness.    The  physician  was  an 


GENEBAL  EVANGELIZIXG  LABOBS.  145 

infidel.  All  was  submission  and  readiness  to  go.  This 
physician  left  him  and  went  to  see  Dr.  R.,  who  was  also 
sick.  He  was  swearing;  'would  n't  die.'  But  about  eleven 
o'clock  he  died.  (The  Captain  died  at  nine.)  The  physi- 
cian turned  from  the  death-bed  of  these  brothers,  saying, 
1  There  is  a  reality  in  religion,'  and  became  a  Christian. 
The  grocery  keeper,  going  to  St.  Louis  on  horseback  to 
buy  goods,  began  to  think  how  the  Lord  had  prospered 
him.  The  question  started :  '  What  have  you  done  for 
Him  ? '  — said  to  himself  :  '  I  '11  give  so  much  —  so  much,' 
increasing  the  amount ;  could  not  be  satisfied  till  he 
dismounted  from  his  horse  and  gave  himself  on  his 
knees  to  the  Lord." 

From  the  first,  Mr.  Turner  had  a  lively  interest  in 
other  forms  of  evangelical  labor  that  promised  well  and 
seemed  suited  to  the  necessities  of  young  and  forming 
communities.  Of  camp-meetings  among  Presbyterians 
(which  began  among  them  first  in  Kentucky  at  Cane  Ridge, 
1800-1801),  he  said  :  "  The  sacrifice  of  time  and  means  is 
too  great,  when  suitable  houses  of  worship  can  be  ob- 
tained." At  Cincinnati  in  1830,  on  his  way  West,  Mr. 
Gallaher  had  told  him  that  he  must  have  camp-meetings. 
Of  those  which  he  began  soon  to  attend,  held  by  Presby- 
terians, he  testified  that  "  all  was  as  orderly  and  quiet  as  in 
any  country  congregation  in  New  England."  u  There  is 
something  so  solemn,  so  inviting  to  thoughtfulness,  away 
from  all  the  bustle  of  the  world,  in  the  stillness  of  the 
forest.  It  is  easy  to  pray,  easy  to  preach.  God  seems  to 
speak  to  men  from  the  trees,  and  out  of  the  skies,  and  the 
heart  is  often  open  to  the  gospel."  He  did  not  wonder 
that  pioneers  loved  such  gatherings,  where  "  eternity  lets 
its  light  down,  and  salvation  becomes  the  engrossing 
thought."  As  late  as  October,  1836,  he  aided  Rev.  Albert 
Hale  and  Rev.  Robert  Stuart  in  a  "  Presbyterian  camp- 
meeting  "  at  Canton. 


146  ASA    TUBNEB. 

J.  G.  Edwards,  Esq.,  wrote  of  such  services :  "  I  well 
remember  the  first  I  ever  attended  in  1834,  at  Bethel, 
Bond  County,  Brother  Hale's  station.  Every  thing  was 
so  orderly  and  well  arranged,  such  a  spirit  of  prayer  pre- 
vailed in  the  different  camps,  that  it  seemed  to  possess  all 
I  had  pictured  as  belonging  to  a  holy  convocation  in  a 
holy  place.'" 

It  was  at  such  a  camp-meeting  in  Missouri  (1831)  that 
the  earnest  and  tireless  Quincy  pastor  first  met  that 
phenomenal  man  and  well-nigh  peerless  preacher,  Dr. 
David  Nelson,  best  known  by  "  The  Cause  and  Cure  of 
Infidelity  '  and  a  single  sweet  hymn.  Dr.  Nelson  was 
born  in  East  Tennessee  (1793),  of  Virginia  and  Scotch 
parentage  ;  had  graduated  at  Washington  College,  1809, 
and  had  been  an  infidel  physician.  It  was  the  falsifica- 
tion of  history  by  infidels  that  had  opened  his  eyes.  He 
gave  up  a  practice  of  three  thousand  dollars  a  year, 
entered  the  ministry,  preached  in  Tennessee,  and  suc- 
ceeded his  brother  as  pastor  at  Danville,  Ky.,  whence 
he  removed  to  Missouri.  "He  was  six  feet  two  inches 
high,  with  broad  shoulders  and  chest, "  says  Mr.  Turner ; 
u  his  mere  bodily  presence  enough  to  inspire  fear  in  lesser 
specimens  of  humanity.  They  only  needed  to  see  his 
face ;  such  meekness  and  benevolence  shone  through  it." 

As  he  left  the  pulpit  once  of  an  Old  School  Presbyterian 
church  in  Kentucky,  he  was  told  by  an  infidel  of  the  town  i 
"  You  have  been  preaching  lies."  He  surveyed  his  assail- 
ant from  head  to  foot.  "  You  are  dressed  like  a  gentleman," 
he  said ;  "  if  you  will  behave  like  one  and  come  and  hear 
me  preach  six  evenings,  I  will  show  you  that  I  have  for 
gotten  more  infidelity  than  you  ever  knew.  I  can  wind 
you  round  my  little  finger  as  easily  as  I  could  a  tow- 
thread."  In  a  few  evenings  this  man  and  fifty  of  his 
companions  were  on  "  anxious  seats."     In  Dr.  Sprague's 


Rev.  Daniel  Nelson. 

(See  page  146.) 


GENERAL  EVANGELIZING  LABORS.  147 

"  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit,"  Dr.  F.  A.  Ross  gives  a 
brilliant  sketch  of  the  genius,  oratorical  power,  beauty  of 
character,  and  oddities  of  Dr.  Nelson.  He  studied  theol- 
ogy probably  in  Franklin,  Tenn.,  where  in  a  dozen  years' 
pastorate  that  able  man,  Dr.  Gideon  Blackburn,  followed 
in  some  measure  the  example  set  at  Franklin,  Mass.  A 
sermon  by  Dr.  Elias  Cornelius,  of  the  American  Board,  as 
he  passed  through  Tennessee,  fired  the  heart  of  the  con- 
verted infidel  with  love  for  the  souls  of  men. 

The  Summer  Assembly  of  to-day  differs  so  widely  from 
the  meetings  in  which  such  men  as  Nelson  and  Gallaher 
were  instruments  of  the  great  power  of  God  that  Mr. 
Turner's  recollections  are  worth  quoting.  There  were 
no  secular  lectures  then,  no  narratives  of  travel,  no 
concerts,  no  scientific  or  picturesque  entertainments 
with  apparatus  and  magic-lantern  :  nothing  but  the 
simple,  clear,  incisive,  passionate  preaching  of  law  and 
gospel,  in  dead  earnest,  aimed  and  shaped  for  the 
immediate  salvation  of  men.  Around  a  hollow  square 
log  shanties  were  built  for  temporary  residences ;  within 
was  a  large  shed  covered  with  split  boards,  a  platform  of 
the  same,  with  a  shelf  in  front,  —  "  the  stand,"  —  and  the 
people  assembled  by  the  blowing  of  a  horn.  Near  Dr. 
Nelson's  home,  Marion  County,  Mo.,  twice  a  year  the 
surrounding  region  filled  his  camp-ground.  There  was 
an  early  prayer-meeting  and  preaching  three  times  a  day. 
Dr.  Nelson,  anticipating  the  singing  evangelists  of  to-day, 
used  to  urge  "  singing  men  into  the  kingdom."  u  He  had 
a  voice  of  great  power  and  melody,  and  it  was  a  treat  to 
hear  him  and  Gallaher  4  sing  the  congregation  back  to  the 
stand,'  after  an  interval  in  worship." 

Rev.  James  Gallaher,  of  coeval  fame  with  Dr.  Nelson, 
was  a  year  older,  born  in  Washington  County,  Tenn. 
(1792),  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  graduated  at  Wash- 


148  ASA    TUB  NEB. 

ington  College,  1813.  He  was  about  ten  years  under 
strong  conviction  of  sin  before  he  was  converted  — 
which  (if  less  for  his  personal  comfort)  may,  if  Mr. 
Gladstone's  judgment  lately  expressed  in  The  Nine- 
teenth Century  is  correct,  have  made  him  a  more 
thorough  and  successful  physician  in  the  cure  and  care 
of  souls.1  Gallaher  taught  at  Knoxville ;  preached  four- 
teen years  at  Rogersville ;  then  five  years  at  Cincinnati ; 
and  became  theological  professor  in  Marion  College, 
Missouri  (Dr.  Nelson's).  He  lived  at  St.  Charles  from 
1839  to  1853,  laboring  widely  as  an  evangelist,  became 
chaplain  in  Congress,  and  soon  after  died. 

"  As  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,"  wrote  Mr.  Turner,  years 
after,  "  I  have  always  regarded  Dr.  Nelson  as  one  of  the 
best.  I  never  met  a  man  that  regarded  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel  such  an  honor,  such  a  privilege.  He  used  to 
say  that  when  he  felt  the  love  of  souls  waning,  he  would 
spend  a  day  in  fasting  and  prayer,  and  God  would  give 
him  all  he  could  hold.  I  have  heard  him  preach  to 
infidels  with  tears  rolling  down  his  cheeks,  exhorting 
them  to  study  the  evidences  of  the  Christian  faith. 
His  preaching  was  more  confined  to  a  given  class  of 
subjects  than  that  of  most  ministers."  And  herein, 
perhaps,  was  the  hiding  of  its  power.  "  His  well-known 
book  is  but  a  synopsis  of  sermons.  He  could  think  as 
well  sawing  logs  or  shaving  shingles,"  says  Mr.  Turner, 
"as  in  the  best  study  in  the  world,  and  it  was  just  as 
easy  to  arrange  it  on  a  log  as  in  a  rocking-chair.  He 
would  ponder  over  a  chapter  perhaps  a  day,  or  a  week  or 
two,  and  when  he  got  ready  sit  down  and  write  it  off  no 
matter  where  he  was." 

*Of  negative  writers  of  our  day  who  have  "  a  feeble  estimate  of  the  enormous 
weight  of  sin  as  a  factor  in  the  condition  of  men,"  the  statesman  says :  "  They 
have  not  learned  the  principal  peril  of  the  patient's  case  and  omit  the  main 
requisite  for  a  cure." 


GENERAL  EVAXGE^fZiyfTTABOBS.  149 


"  He  might  suggest  some  choice  thought  at  a  prayer- 
meeting,"  says  another  who  knew  him  well,  "  then  say  a 
few  words  about  it  in  some  school-house,  then  preach 
about  it  on  the  Sabbath  several  times  at  different  places, 
—  thus  brooding  over  it  for  weeks,  —  and  finally  surprise 
and  thrill  a  Boston  audience  with  his  eloquence  and 
pathos." 

Over  a  soul  of  such  sincerity,  truth,  and  consecration 
as  Mr.  Turner's,  intensely  eager  to  learn  how  to  win  souls 
better,  these  remarkable  men  had  great  stimulating  and 
molding  power.  But  they  were  eccentric  in  much,  and 
not  to  be  imitated.  The  first  thing  the  writer  learned  of 
Mr.  Gallaher  in  1844,  from  those  whom  he  had  benefited 
to  a  rare  degree,  —  along  with  marvelous  incidents  of 
pulpit  power,  —  was  that  between  preaching  services  he 
was  wont  to  lie  on  his  face  upon  a  lounge  or  bed,  deaf  to 
every  thing  about  him  and  apparently  unconscious,  medi- 
tating his  next  struggle  with  the  consciences  and  hearts 
of  sinners.  The  first  time  Mr.  Turner  saw  Dr.  Nelson 
"  he  sat  in  his  tent,"  he  says,  "  on  a  basket-bottomed  chair, 
jean  coat  and  pants,  a  thick,  uncombed  head  of  hair,  the 
personification  of  indolence  and  stupidity.  An  infidel 
doctor  came  in  and  asked  how  God  could  raise  the  dead. 
His  eye  flashed,  as  he  said:  'God  who  could  make  a 
diamond  out  of  charcoal  can  make  a  body  fit  for  glory 
and  immortality.'     He  said  no  more." 

"  I  have  seen  Dr.  Nelson,"  says  another,  "  wearing  a 
soiled  collar,  a  seedy  coat,  with  a  sleeve  torn  half-way  to 
the  elbow,  a  black  silk  handkerchief  in  a  string  around 
his  neck;  and  others  have  seen  him  wearing  a  shoe  and  a 
boot.  A  grand  man,  with  a  tender  heart  and  a  gentle 
disposition,  but  firm  as  a  rock  when  principle  was  at 
stake."  In  the  hour  of  bitter  persecution  from  slave- 
holders,   he     preached     delightfully    from     the    words: 


150  ASA    TUBNEB. 

"  Rejoice  in  the  Lord  always."  "  He  had  no  financial 
ability,  no  conception  of  the  requisites  of  household 
comfort  in  the  free  North."  Some  of  his  ways  were  like 
those  of  his  New  England  contemporary,  Dr.  Nettleton. 
Once  after  preaching  he  stood  at  a  high  fence,  leaning 
and  looking  into  the  deep  woods.  A  convicted  Universal- 
ist  approached  for  advice,  confident  that  Dr.  Nelson's 
skill  would  place  him  at  once  within  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  The  great  preacher  heard  him  through,  and 
simply  said :  "  We  must  go  to  dinner."  "  I  was  thrown 
altogether  upon  Christ,"  said  the  inquirer,  "  and  He  saved 
me."  It  is  evidence  of  strong  sense  and  balanced  Chris- 
tian experience  that  these  wondrous  masters  of  frontier 
revivals  impressed  no  eccentricities  or  marks  of  imitation 
upon  the  Quincy  pastor.  But  the  graces  of  character 
that  had  made  him  the  counselor  of  awakened  students, 
and  had  given  him  success  in  Yale  revivals,  long  after 
rendered  him  one  of  the  wisest  workers  in  religious 
awakenings  in  Illinois  and  Iowa. 

He  readily  and  generously  appreciated  men  whose 
evangelizing  ways  were  very  different  from  his  own. 
He  was  widely  sought  as  a  helper  by  pastors  unlike 
himself  and  unlike  each  other.  There  is  entire  unanimity 
among  all  who  knew  him  in  his  most  active  days  that  his 
preaching  was  simple,  unpretending,  incisive,  apt,  growing 
in  a  certain  benignant  tone  as  he  grew  older,  and  always 
shapen  directly  and  only  to  do  good  to  the  soul.  His 
revival  labors  left  no  recoil,  intellectual  or  moral,  behind 
them.  By  them  he  was  best  known  generally.  A  single 
judgment  of  his  preaching  qualities  will  suffice. 

"  I  came  as  a  home  missionary  to  Illinois  fresh  from  the 
seminary  and  the  ministry  of  a  prince  among  preachers ; 
but  there  was  something  in  Father  Turner's  sermons 
which   compensated  for  the    classic    style,  the  beautiful 


GENERAL  EVANGELIZING  LABORS.  151 

imagery,  and  the  eloquent  delivery  of  the  university 
preacher.1  In  those  early  days  he  [Mr.  Turner]  was  .  .  . 
probably  our  best  [preacher]  if  judged  by  results.  He 
was  not  a  systematic  student.  He  read  and  studied  as  he 
was  able,  never  idle.  He  was  not  a  finished  theologian, 
but  he  understood  the  gospel  system,  and  he  could  main- 
tain his  views.  The  critic  could  point  out  defects  in  his 
sermons,  his  delivery,  and  his  manner  generally.  But 
he  always  dwelt  upon  important  subjects ;  the  explanation 
of  the  text  was  convincing,  and  he  spoke  as  an  ambassador 
for  Christ.  He  never  stooped  to  saying  a  smart  thing ; 
he  never  thought  of  rounding  a  period.  There  was  an 
-entire  forgetfulness  of  self,  and  his  sincerity  and  earnest- 
ness never  failed  to  rivet  the  attention  of  his  hearers." 
A  lady  who  had  the  best  of  opportunities  to  judge  of 
him,  as  the  wife  of  a  home  missionary  with  whom  he  did 
early  a  good  deal  of  "  ranging,"  touches  on  a  certain  moral 
influence,  "  choice,  subtle,  inexpressible,"  that  went  every- 
where with  his  simple  and  kindly  manner.  "  It  was  this, 
I  suppose,  that  made  the  members  of  the  Illinois  Associa- 
tion feel,  when  he  joined  them,  that  •  now  they  had  Paul 
in  the  ship.'  This  that  led  to  him  anxious  sinners  and 
discouraged  saints  for  counsel  and  comfort ;  this  that 
brought  to  him  protection  from  an  unexpected  quarter 
when  assailed  by  a  pro-slavery  mob." 

1  Rev.  E.  T.  Fitch,  d.d. 


XIX. 

TWO   ANTI-SLAVERY    EPISODES. 

Christian  pioneers  from  New  England  reached  Illi- 
nois less  than  six  years  after  the  greatest  struggle  to 
conquer  a  state  for  slavery  ever  made  in  this  country. 
The  half-spent  waves  of  that  fierce  contention  were  still 
striking  angrily  upon  the  shore.  The  story  of  it  is  thrill- 
ing to  the  lover  of  freedom,  as  it  is  told  in  the  pages  of 
Governors  Reynolds  and  Ford,  Judge  Breese,  and  Hon. 
E.  B.  Washburne.  In  the  succession  of  governors  of 
Illinois,  the  noble  Virginian  who  so  grandly  and  wisely 
led  the  opponents  of  slavery  rises  preeminent.1 

The  question  —  slave  state  or  free  ?  —  had  entered, 
indeed,  into  the  first  movements  to  divide  Illinois  territory 
from  Indiana.  The  soil  was  not  originally  dedicated  to 
freedom  in  either.  The  Indiana  Constitution  of  1816  had 
prohibited  slavery,  as  the  Ohio  Constitution  of  1802  had 
done.  They  followed  the  immortal  North-west  Ordinance 
of  1787.  But  there  had  been,  and  continued  to  be,  slaves 
in  the  earliest  settlements.  As  late  as  1840  there  were 
actually  three  held  in  Indiana ;  in  1830,  thirty-two  at 
Vincennes ;  in  1820,  a  hundred  and  ninety  in  the  state. 
Governor  Coles  reminded  the  Legislature  of  Illinois,  in 
1822,  that  many  were  still  held  in  Illinois ;  in  1820  they 
had  numbered  nine  hundred  and  seventeen ;  in  1810,  one 
hundred  and  sixty-eight.  The  revenue  laws  when  it  was 
a  territory  had  even  levied  a  tax  upon  this  species  of 
(prohibited)  property !     At  Green  Bay  in  Wisconsin,  and 

1  Washburne's  Sketch  of  Governor  Coles. 


TWO  ANTI-SLAVEBY  EPISODES.  153 

at  Detroit  in  Michigan,  it  was  held,  bought,  and  sold. 
"The  North-west  was  slave  territory  all  through  the 
Virginia  period,  reaching  from  1778  to  1784."  1 

The  original  French  colonists  of  the  whole  region  and 
the  Indians  had  been  slave-holders.  The  Indians  sold 
captives  taken  in  war.  In  La  Salle's  time  (1682),  the 
French  held  slaves  in  the  villages  they  founded,  and 
carried  on  their  common  fields  by  slave-labor.  Indian 
slaves  were  the  more  numerous  at  first.  Being  mostly 
Pawnees,  such  persons  came  to  be  called  "  pani '  all  over 
the  North-west.  The  first  Illinois  negroes  were  brought 
to  Fort  Chartres  in  1720,  from  San  Domingo,  along  with 
miners  and  soldiers,  by  Philip  Francis  Renault,  director  of 
the  India  Company's  mines.  Black  and  red  slaves  are 
mentioned  together  after  this.  Of  course  Virginia  immi- 
grants—  after  the  conquest  by  George  Rogers  Clark  — 
brought  more  of  the  former ;  and  when  the  state  ceded 
Illinois  County  to  Congress,  she  stipulated  that  "  citizens 
of  Virginia,  previous  to  the  cession,  should  have  their 
possessions  and  titles  confirmed,  and  be  protected  in  their 
rights."  Before  this,  under  Governor  Patrick  Henry's 
commandant  of  the  "county,"  slave-holding  had  been 
allowed,  and  negro  slaves  hung  and  burned  for  witchcraft* 

The  "  patriarchal  institution  "  had  thus  been  Virginian, 
English,  and  French  on  the  same  soil.  Most  southern 
settlers  approved  of  it,  though  the  Scotch-Irish  did  not, 
nor  those  coming  from  Kentucky.  It  was  contended  that 
the  second  Illinois  State  Constitution  —  that  of  1818 — v 
merely  forbade  its  introduction  after  this  date.  The  Free 
State  men  from  New  England,  the  Middle  States,  and  the 
South  were  determined  that  the  Constitution  should  be 
carried  out  in  the  spirit  of  the  great  Ordinance.  As  these 
increased,  pro-slavery  men  felt  less  hope  that  they  could 
depend  upon  interpretation  and    argument. 

1  Dr.  B.  A.  Hinsdale. 


154  ASA    TUBNER. 

Abundant  materials  in  this  state  of  things  for  severe 
and  even  bloody  conflict !  It  came  in  1824 ;  Governor 
Coles,  who  had  left  Virginia  to  free  inherited  slaves,  lead- 
ing the  Free  State  men.  His  opponents  moved  for  a  con- 
vention to  amend  the  Constitution  to  permit  slave-holding. 
They  nearly  succeeded.  Cajolery,  bribery,  intimidation, 
u  filibustering,"  were  employed  to  carry  the  point.  Poli- 
ticians went  armed.  Murderous  collisions  became  common. 
Eighteen  months  of  tremendous  tempest  ended  in  the 
defeat  of  the  convention  by  a  majority  of  1,782  in  a  total 
vote  of  11,772.  The  current  of  American  history  was 
turned. 

It  is  said  that  the  first  Protestant  church  in  Illinois 
(New  Design)  had  rules  opposed  to  slavery.  Many  later 
ones  had  none.  An  anti-slavery  political  organization  in 
St.  Clair  County  (Rev.  J.  M.  Peek),  with  fourteen 
branches  elsewhere,  helped  defeat  the  convention.  But 
\  no  denomination  identified  itself  with  freedom.  As  late 
as  1836  the  Methodist  Book  of  Discipline  was  in  danger 
of  having  Wesley's  condemnation  of  "the  sum  of  all 
villanies  "  expunged.  Mr.  Turner  and  others  could  easily 
make  themselves  obnoxious  to  pro-slavery  men  along  the 
American  Bottom.  There  were  still  seven  hundred  and 
forty-six  slaves  in  that  part  of  Illinois,  when  he  came 
to  Quincy.1  He  was  originally  most  interested  in 
temperance  and  Sabbath  reform ;  but  his  attention  was 
called  to   slavery  by   his    experience  and  observation  in 


f 


1  Judge  Cooley's  Michigan  (American  Commonwealths  Series)  makes  three 
classes  of  slaves  in  the  North-west:  —  (1)  The  French;  (2)  the  English;  (3) 
the  American,  brought  in  from  Southern  States.  Judicial  decisions  as  to  each 
class  were  called  for  under  the  Ordinance,  etc.  About  the  time  the  United  States 
Constitution  (Art.  I,  Sect.  9)  took  effect  against  importing  foreign  slaves,  the 
territorial  chief  justice  of  Michigan  decided  "that  a  right  of  property  in  the 
human  species  can  not  exist  in  this  territory,  except  as  to  persons  in  the  actual 
possession  of  British  settlers  June  1,  1796."  Mr.  Dunn's  Indiana  (American 
Commonwealths  Series)  has  for  its  sub-title,  "  A  Redemption  from  Slavery." 
So  wide  was  the  conflict  that  brought  Illinois  its  highest  honor. 


TWO  ANTI-SLAVERY  EPISODES.  155 

Missouri  at  the  camp-meetings  of  Mr.  Gallaher  and  Dr. 
Nelson.  From  his  reminiscences  of  the  latter,  published  in 
1857,1  the  influence  of  that  extraordinary  man  upon  him 
in  respect  to  reform  appears.  They  are  here  combined 
with  his  autobiography. 

Dr.  Nelson  opened  a  plantation  in  Missouri  in  true 
Southern  style.  But  there  came  two  great  epochs  in  his 
moral  life.  The  first  was  when  he  heard  Jeremiah  Evarts, 
of  the  American  Board,  en  route  to  the  Indian  Missions, 
upon  the  conversion  of  the  world.  "  His  soul  took  fire, 
and  the  flame  never  for  a  moment  waned  while  life  lasted. 
His  heart  would  melt  over  the  degraded  heathen  who  had 
never  heard  of  the  Saviour.  I  never  met  a  man  so  per- 
fectly in  sympathy  with  Jesus  Christ  on  this  subject." 

The  second  was  early  in  1831,  when  he  heard  Theodore 
D.  Weld  open  the  second  table  of  the  law.  This  led  him 
to  say  that  "he  would  live  on  roast  potatoes  and  salt 
before  he  would  hold  slaves."  A  little  later  that  year, 
two  persons  in  Marion  County,  Mo.,  "  were  found  to  have 
in  their  possession  papers,  pamphlets,  and  periodicals 
[which]  were  seized  and  burned,  and  the  parties  ordered 
out  of  the  state."2  Mr.  Turner  says  that  at  a  camp- 
meeting  at  this  time  (May,  1831),  two  skeptical  physi- 
cians were  converted,  and  emancipated  their  slaves,  and 
that  this  made  Dr.  Nelson's  students  at  Marion  anti- 
slavery.  Their  instructor  "probably  stood  higher  reli- 
giously than  any  man  in  the  state.  A  member  of  his 
church  (Mr.  Muldhow)  had  conceived  an  immense  coloni- 
zation plan,  and  asked  him  to  read  a  notice  of  a  meeting 
to  discuss  it  at  the  close  of  the  camp-meeting."  Dr. 
Nelson  thought  it  ill-timed  and  injudicious,  though  himself 
a  colonizationist.     General  Tillson  says  that  a  Dr.  Bosely 

1  The  Congregational  Herald. 
3  General  John  Tilleon. 


156  ASA   TUBNEB. 

rose  and  ordered  him  to  stop  the  reading.  Mr.  Muldhow 
laid  his  open  knife  in  the  palm  of  his  hand,  so  that  all 
might  see  it.  The  cry  of  *  Abolition '  was  raised.  Dr. 
Bosely  was  dangerously  stabbed.  "  A  body  of  armed  men 
pursued  Dr.  Nelson  to  his  home.  After  three  days  and 
nights  of  wandering  he  made  known  his  condition  to 
friends  in    Quincy." 

"During  his  flight  he  commenced  his  famous  book, 
Cause  and  Cure  of  Infidelity."  Hiding  in  the  bushes, 
with  the  Mississippi  at  the  foot  of  the  bluff  "gliding 
swiftly  by,"  and  "  friends  passing  over  "  to  and  from  a 
Free  State,  a  safe  landing  in  which  he  could  "  almost  dis- 
cover," he  also  here  wrote  on  the  backs  of  letters  the 
Christian  psalm  of  life,  "  My  days  are  gliding  swiftly  by." 
What  "  hours  of  toil  and  danger  "  find  voice  in  some  of 
our  sweetest  hymns!  How  the  experience  of  Christ's 
dear  servants  often  makes  them  live  and  throb  ! 

The  book  and  the  hymn  —  of  like  memorable  origin  — 
express  fairly  the  author's  kindly  and  devout  spirit.  "  He 
did  not  attack  slavery  publicly.  He  would  say,  Go  home 
and  read  [perhaps  Jeremiah  22  :  13]  on  your  knees."  "  I 
do  not  remember  the  least  crimination  of  any  one  for 
their  persecution.  On  the  first  approach  of  the  mob  to 
his  house,  he  caught  his  gun  to  defend  his  family.  In  an 
instant  he  bethought  himself  and  put  it  up.  '  Oh,  I  was 
so  rejoiced,'  he  said,  c  that  I  was  restrained  from  any  self- 
defence.'  " 

Times  like  these  in  early  Illinois  that  tried  men's  souls 
had  their  humors  nevertheless.  Two  Quincy  church 
members,  while  Dr.  Nelson  was  in  hiding,  at  dusk  paddled 
a  "  dug-out "  across  the  river,  and  fished  in  the  slough 
near  the  western  shore.  Learning  by  signs  just  where 
Dr.  Nelson  was  "in  the  bush,"  they  let  their  boat  float 
down  towards  the  Missouri  "  strand."      With  huge  strides 


TWO  ANTI-SLAVEBY  EPISODES.  157 

down  came  the  fugitive  evangelist  and  college  founder 
from  his  concealment.  The  slave-holding  scouts  were 
foiled.  Well  out  in  the  current  Dr.  Nelson  asked  if  they 
had  brought  him  any  thing  to  eat  ?  His  days  of  tramping, 
hiding,  hymn-making,  praying,  reflecting,  where  it  was 
unsafe  to  resort  to  a  house,  had  well-nigh  starved  him. 
"Something  in  the  bag,"  replied  one  of  the  brethren, 
rowing  with  all  his  might.  Diving  eagerly  into  tile  bag 
at  the  stern,  the  brave  but  famished  Tennessean  brought 
up  only  dried  codfish  and  crackers !  Laughing  heartily 
he  said :  "  Well,  I  'm  dependent  on  Yankees,  and  shall 
have  to  be  a  Yankee  myself  after  this,  and  I  may  as  well 
begin  on  crackers  and  codfish !  " 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  1836,  at  Burlington,  when 
returning  with  Mr.  Kirby  from  Iowa,  that  Mr.  Turner 
heard  of  this.1  At  Quincy  he  found  vast  excitement. 
**  The  chivalry  crossed  the  river  and  demanded  that  Dr. 
Nelson  should  be  delivered  up.  They  were  told  that  he 
was  under  the  laws  of  Illinois,  and  slave-holders  could 
not  have  him." 

"  Once  he  went  back  to  see  his  son  [at  Marion]  sick  of 
a  brain  fever.  They  asked  how  long  he  would  stay? 
Till  his  son  died  or  recovered  so  that  he  could  be  removed, 
was  the  answer.  You  must  leave  the  state  to-night,  they 
replied,  or  be  in  the  hands  of  the  police  before  morning. 
The  Marion  college  students  collected  what  guns  they 
could,  went  to  the  sod-fence  in  front  of  the  college,  and 
told  the  mob  to  come  within  reach  of  bullets  at  their 
peril."  A  few  days  after  he  removed  his  son  from  the 
college  to  Quincy.     As  they  passed  through  Palmyra,  "  the 

xThe  gentleman  who  told  him  thought  Dr.  Nelson  had  better  let  anti-slavery 
alone  in  Missouri.  "  If  you  were  a  minister,"  said  Mr.  Turner,  if  and  wanted  to 
join  a  church  of  Christ's  disciples,  wouldn't  you  require  them  to  be  substantially 
anti-slavery?  "  Said  he  :  "  My  brothers  in  Virginia  have  been  writing  to  me  about 
religion;  I  replied  to  them,  first  to  put  away  slavery,  and  then  they  might  talk  to 
me  about  religion." 


158  ASA    TUBNEB. 

people,"  he  said,    "fairly  gnashed  upon  him  with  their 
teeth." 

All  was  not  quiet  at  Quincy.  There  were  citizens  who 
wrought  wickedness,  whom  Missourians  stirred  up.  "  I 
was  then  lecturing  on  Sabbath  afternoons,"  says  Mr. 
Turner,  "  on  Acts  in  course.  The  mob  at  Ephesus  was  the 
subject  for  the  Sabbath  after.  I  felt  that  Dr.  Nelson  should 
not  bear  the  wrath  of  the  people  alone.  The  house  was  full 
to  hear  what  I  would  say.  I  told  them  what  I  thought  of 
mobs  and  slavery,  and  repeated  the  declaration  of  Ethan 
Allen  (of  Vermont),  that  '  nothing  but  a  bill  of  sale  from 
Almighty  God  would  convince  him  that  one  man  could 
hold  another  as  his  property.'  I  told  them  that  nothing 
short  of  that  would  satisfy  me.  At  that  a  pro-slavery 
doctor  cried  out  i  Presumptuous  ! '  " 

"  Here  the  pro-slavery  wrath  seemed  to  turn  from  Dr. 
Nelson  to  me.  But  they  concluded  to  take  time  and 
gather  an  organization  strong  enough  to  make  victory 
sure.  The  next  day  this  doctor  went  over  to  Missouri 
to  enlist  the  men,  as  we  suppose.  There  was  a  member 
of  our  church  from  Kentucky.  They  supposed  he  would 
be  on  their  side,  and  made  known  their  plans  to  him. 
They  canvassed  the  county  [Adams]  to  get  up  a  mob. 
They  had  not  decided  what  to  do  with  me,  but  said  I 
could  not  stay  in  Quincy.  This  member  informed  me  of 
their  plans  from  time  to  time.  We  were  about  to  hold  a 
two  days'  meeting  Saturday  and  Sabbath.  Dr.  Nelson 
was  to  preach  Saturday.  That  day  was  fixed  upon  for 
the  deliverance  of  the  town  and  county  from  two  such 
dangerous  men  —  the  hour  of  public  worship  the  time.  I 
felt  the  thing  must  be  met ;  called  the  leading  members 
of  the  church  together  and  told  them  the  situation.  J. 
F.  Holmes,  one  of  our  deacons,  was  a  justice  of  the  peace. 
He    and  several    others,    especially    Lieutenant-Governor 


TWO  ANTI- SLAVERY  EPISODES.  159 

Wood,  made  bullets,  loaded  a  large  number  of  guns,  and 
put  them  under  the  pulpit  platform,  a  temporary  structure, 
without  the  knowledge  of  those  they  were  designed  to 
defend.  When  all  was  prepared  he  went  to  the  leaders 
of  the  would-be  mob  and  told  them :  '  A  few  rowdies  can 
not  get  up  a  mob.  They  must  have  respectable  men  to 
back  them,  and  we  know  who  they  are.  If  there  is  a 
mob,  I  shall  read  the  riot  act,  and  command  them  in  the 
name  of  the  state  to  disperse,  and  if  you  don't,  bullets 
will  follow.  Now  you  may  have  a  mob  or  not,  just  as  you 
please.  We  shall  aim  at  the  leaders ;  we  know  who  they 
are.' " 

Dr.  Willard  relates  an  incident  that  seems  to  belong 
here.  "  Some  of  the  mob  learned  where  arms  were 
stored,1  liable  to  be  captured  by  a  sudden  movement ; 
at  the  same  time  Mr.  Holmes  learned  that  they  had  such 
knowledge.  He  had  no  time  to  call  assistance,  but  went 
at  once  to  the  spot.  He  had  barely  reached  it  when  some 
of  the  mob  arrived.  Mr.  Holmes  was  standing  on  the 
movable  plank  in  the  floor  over  the  guns,  with  arms 
folded,  and  facing  the  door.  Each  successive  mobite 
departed ;  and  one  of  them  said  of  their  failure :  c  Holmes 
was  there,  and  looked  as  if  he  would  as  soon  shoot  a 
fellow  as  not.'  " 

"The  next  day  this  doctor  went  over  to  Missouri,  as 
we  supposed,  to  tell  his  allies  not  to  come.  On  Saturday 
people  from  all  parts  of  the  county  flocked  into  Quincy. 
John  Wood  went  round  among  them  and  said :  *  Don't 
touch  Mr.  Turner.  If  you  do  it  will  be  over  my  dead 
body.  I  '11  kill  as  many  as  Davy  Crockett  did.'  Captain 
Pease,  a  butcher  from  Massachusetts,  who  had  the  reputa- 

1  Mr.  Anderson  says  that  M  hoop-poles,  cut  at  a  convenient  length  for  cudgels,'* 
were  also  under  the  platform,  and  that  when  the  log  court-house  was  burned, 
"court  was  held  in  the  'Lord's  Barn  '  for  a  time,  and  the  arsenal  discovered; 
but  the  weapons  saved  by  free  speech  men." 


160  ASA    TUBNEB. 

tion  of  being  the  bully  of  the  county,  went  round  in  a 
linen  round-about,  with  two  great  horse-pistols  in  his 
bosom,  and  said :  «  Do  any  of  you  want  to  fight  ?  I  '11 
fight  with  you.  But  I  '11  kill  the  first  man  that  touches 
Mr.  Turner.' 

"  This  was  as  trying  to  their  chivalry  and  bravery  as 
twenty  degrees  below  zero  is  sometimes  to  house-plants. 
The  public  square  was  covered  with  men.  About  eleven 
o'clock  [a.m.]  they  began  to  inquire  what  they  came 
together  for  !  The  movers  all  of  a  sudden  became 
stanch  law  and  order  men.  The  doctor  got  up  and 
begged  them  not  to  have  a  mob.  They  passed  some 
resolutions  versus  Abolition  —  a  word  that  has  scared 
a  great  many  wise  men.  since  that  day ;  drank  a  little  too 
much,  fought  a  little  too  much  among  themselves,  and 
went  home.     Saturday  night  was  as  quiet  as  Sunday. 

"In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  [1837,  General  Tillson], 
they  made  an  attack  on  the  meeting-house  with  brickbats 
[and  firebrands  2]  during  an  anti-slavery  lecture."  "  Many 
persons  indifferent  to,  or  favorable  towards,  slavery ;  .  .  . 
gave  out  that  there  should  be  no  more  meetings  held, 
and  that  the  societies  [anti-slavery]  should  be  broken  up," 
says  General  Tillson.  "  The  better  class  of  citizens  united 
with  the  abolitionists  to  vindicate  freedom  of  speech  at  all 
hazards.  .  .  .  Arms  of  all  kinds  were  procured,  from  the 
musket  and  shot-gun  to  the  hatchet  and  club.  Watch  by 
day  and  night  was  kept  up  by  both  parties.  A  committee 
from  each  passed  a  night  on  the  river-bank  to  secure  one 
influential  and  very  effective  man  (N.  Pease)  who  had 
been  absent  at  Galena.  Free  speech  men  naturally  got 
him.  .  .  .  Parties  from  Missouri  came  in."  Mr.  Turner 
continues  the  story :  — 

"  The  same  brother  who  led  the  defence  before  called 
on  all  the  friends  of  law  and  order  to  go  out  and  put 

1  Anderson,  Sermon. 


TWO  ANTI-SLA  VEB  Y  EPISODES.  161 

down  the  mob.  They  went  out  [lecture  suspended,  and 
the  brickbats  returned]  and  applied  brickbats a  as  fast  and 
as  hard  to  the  mob  as  they  had  done  to  the  meeting-house. 
They  ran  for  dear  life,  and  whether  some  of  them  have 
stopped  yet  is  a  matter  of  opinion.  This  was  the  finish- 
ing stroke,  and  settled  the  question  of  liberty  in  Quincy." 

"The  leader  of  the  mob,"  says  Mr.  Anderson,  "is 
described  as  tearing  down  Mr.  Felt's  gate  [the  deacon 
lived  next  door]  in  his  frantic  efforts  to  get  over  it."  "  A 
not  small  and  amusing  number  of  notables,"  says  General 
Tillson,  "were  found  hiding  in  alleys  and  fence-corners, 
all  of  them  next  day  hoping  that  nothing  would  be  known 
of  the  affair.  ■  God's  Barn  '  was  freedom's  fortress,  where 
here  'freedom's  battle  first  began' — a  turning  period  in 
Quincy's  history."  "  The  prosperity  of  Quincy,"  says  Mr. 
Turner,  "was  owing  to  the  stand  taken  by  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Wood,  J.  F.  Holmes,  and  those  associated  with 
them." 

Before  Mr.  Turner  left  Quincy  he  saw  a  Mission 
Institute  erected  by  Dr.  Nelson  five  miles  east,  on  half 
of  a  tract  of  land  bought  by  him  and  given  to  its  use. 
There  was  to  be  no  tuition,  and  teachers  were  to  support 
their  families  by  labor,  the  students  working  for  them 
portions  of  their  time.  Dr.  Nelson  "would  go  to  the 
timber  with  them,  and  when  tired  with  work  sit  down  on 
a  log  and  write  his  *  Cause  and  Cure.'  "  It  was  finished 
there,  under  the  shade  of  four  large  oaks.  He  was  com- 
missioned for  Adams  County  by  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society.  He  continued  to  make  powerful 
and  touching  anti-slavery  addresses.  He  remained  for 
seven  years,  "  unmolested,  respected,  and  beloved,"  dying 
at  the  age  of  fifty-one  in  October,  1844. 

It  was  about  a  year  later  that  another  struggle  occurred, 

*  An  unfinished  hotel  near  by  supplied  mutual  missiles. 


162  ASA   TUBNEB. 

nearer  St.  Louis,  in  which  the  central  figure  was  also  a 
Christian  minister  and  a  home  missionary,  and  he  was 
murdered  by  a  mob.  It  was  far  more  widely  known 
through  this  catastrophe.  Mr.  Turner's  part  in  it  was 
less  prominent.  The  Rev.  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy,  commis- 
sioned at  New  York  for  Missouri,  had  had  his  commission 
extended  to  Alton,  Illinois.  The  details  of  his  editorship 
of  The  St.  Louis  Observer,  a  Presbyterian  weekly ;  of  his 
stand  alike  against  abolition  and  outrages  inflicted  upon 
slaves  ;  of  the  partial  destruction  of  one  press  at  St.  Louis, 
(completed  at  Alton),  and  the  loss  of  three  others  by  mob- 
violence  at  Alton ;  of  his  calm  Christian  spirit,  unruffled, 
spiritual,  and  devout,  through  it  all,  —  hardly  need  to  be 
repeated.  He  was  a  native  of  Maine,  a  graduate  of  Water- 
ville  College  and  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  had 
been  an  acceptable  preacher  in  New  York  City,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Missouri,  and  was  thirty-five  years  old  when 
he  was  shot  defending  his  printing-press.  One  of  these 
had  been  given  him  by  friends  in  Quincy  and  Alton.  Mr. 
Turner  sympathized  intensely  with  him  as  a  Christian 
preacher  and  a  reformer.1  After  the  loss  of  one  press,  he 
preached  at  Upper  Alton  from  the  words  :  "  Thou  wilt 
keep  him  in  perfect  peace,  whose  mind  is  stayed  on  thee." 
He  wrote  his  mother :  "  I  understood  that  text  as  never 
before."  In  danger  of  personal  violence  in  both  states,  he 
wrote  the  editor  of  The  New  York  Evangelist :  "  I  have  a 
constant  sense  of  security.  I  read  the  promises  (of  the 
Psalms,  especially)  with  a  delight,  a  refreshing  of  soul,  I 

1In  the  Commonwealths  Series,  "  Missouri,  a  Bone  of  Contention,"  the  author's 
unconcealed  prejudice  against  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  all  anti-slavery  men,  and  his 
defence  of  his  persecutors,  do  not  prevent  his  saying,  "  There  was  nothing  new  or 
objectionable  in  the  doctrines  he  advocated ;  and  the  tone  and  temper  of  his  utter- 
ances, when  contrasted  with  the  fierce  philippics  of  later  times,  were  as  gentle  as 
the  cooings  of  a  dove."  "  He  was  a  man  of  broader  nature  and  better  character 
than  any  who  had  become  conspicuous  in  the  anti-slavery  cause."  —  Eliot's  History 
U.S. 


TWO  ANTI-SLAVEBY  EPISODES.  163 

never  knew  before."  He  purposed  to  remove  the  Ob- 
server to  Quincy,  but  Alton  people  prevented. 

"  About  this  time,"  says  Mr.  Turner,  "  the  friends  of  a 
free  press  and  free  speech  called  a  convention  to  meet 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church  (Mr.  Lovejoy's),  in  Upper 
Alton.1  The  pro-slavery  element  came  into  it,  took 
possession  of  it,  and  passed  their  own  resolutions."  Dr. 
Edward  Beecher,  Mr.  Turner,  and  Attorney-General  U. 
F.  Linder,  committee,  had  reported  two  sets ;  General 
Linder's  declaring  that  even  "  slave-holding  states  can  not 
abolish  slavery."  "A  part  of  the  friends  of  freedom 
adjourned  to  a  private  house  opposite  the  church  (Rev. 
F.  B.  Hurlburd's)  ;  the  mob  followed,  but  the  owner  told 
them  to  touch  the  house  at  their  peril."  The  police 
cleared  the  streets.  "The  first  Anti-Slavery  Society  of 
Illinois  was  formed.  I  was  chairman  of  the  meeting. 
The  next  day  when  the  delegates  from  Quincy  went  to 
take  a  boat,  they  followed  us  firing  and  hooting." 

For  a  day  or  two,  the  excitement  grew  in  Alton,  and 
ended  in  murder.  Mr.  Lovejoy  was  prayerful  through  it 
all,  and  so  serene  in  spirit  that  an  eye-witness  says :  "  He 
is  entitled  to  be  ranked  with  the  St.  John  of  tradition, 
with  the  sweet  St.  Francis  d'Assisi  of  the  Catholic 
Church."  It  ought  to  go  into  history  that  the  crisis  was 
brought  on  by  no  act  of  his,  but  by  a  citizens'  meeting  in 
Alton,  which  voted  it  "  indispensable  that  he  should  not 
be  allowed  to  conduct  The  Alton  Observer,"  and  voted 
down  resolutions  in  favor  of  the  maintenance  of  law  and 
the  freedom  of  the  press.  His  defence  is  worthy  to  rank 
with  that  of  Thomas  Addis  Emmett.  It  has  been  pre- 
served by  Dr.  Beecher  and  Mr.  Tanner. 

1A  hundred  and  fifty  gentlemen  called  the  convention  —  fifty-six  of  Quincy, 
forty-two  of  Galesburg,  thirty-two  of  Jacksonville,  twenty -three  of  both  Altons, 
twenty  of  Springfield,  and  seventy-two  of  other  places.  Dr.  Gideon  Blackburn, 
ex-president  of  Center  College,  Kentucky,  presided  first. 


164  ASA    TUB  NEB. 

The  mob  pledged  the  defenders  of  the  press,  on  their 
giving  it  up,  that  they  should  go  out  unharmed  from  the 
ware-house,  but  sent  more  than  a  hundred  bullets  after 
them  and  then  destroyed  the  press.  The  fourth,  Owen 
Lovejoy,  afterwards  a  member  of  Congress,  then  on  guard 
at  his  brother's  house,  received  his  dead  body.  A  simple 
and  quiet  funeral  service  was  held  next  da}^  by  a  home 
missionary,  Rev.  T.  Lippincott. 

That  day  the  Quincy  delegation  reached  home.  u  On 
Saturday  night,"  says  Mr.  Turner,  "  while  I  was  pre- 
paring for  the  Sabbath,  a  boat  brought  the  news  of  Love- 
joy's  murder.  As  soon  as  I  heard  of  it,  on  Sabbath 
morning,  I  laid  aside  my  preparations,  and  took  for  my 
text,  Luke  12 :  4,  5,  '  Fear  not  them  that  kill  the  body,' 
etc.  There  was  great  excitement,  and  the  house  filled.  I 
told  them  what  anti-slavery  was  :  '  Every  man  has  a  right 
to  the  avails  of  his  own  labor.  Abolitionists  want  free 
speech,  a  free  press,  and  all  the  freedom  God  has  given 
every  man.  Our  Declaration  of  Independence  and  Con- 
stitution have  guaranteed  it.'  I  gave  an  account  of  Mr. 
Lovejoy's  life  and  death. 

"  My  own  feelings  were  deeply  impressed ;  the  audience 
as  solemn  as  if  it  were  a  funeral.  All  the  better  people  in 
Quincy  condemned  the  act.  Anti-slavery  discussions  had 
led  many  to  adopt  anti-slavery  views.  Previous  to  these 
events,  Alton  was  much  larger  than  Quincy,  and  had 
promise  of  great  commercial  importance ; 1  but  after  them 
it  was  for  a  time  shunned,  while  Quincy  took  an  imme- 
diate start  upwards." 

"  The  ware-houses  built  in  its  youth  of  enterprise," 
says  Dr.  Willard,  "  were  sold  for  a  tenth  or  a  twentieth  of 
their  cost."     About  1850,  the  depression  at  Alton  passed 

1  Chicago  was  estimated  at  less  than  four  thousand ;  and  Alton  not  far  from 
the  i-ame  number.  —  Tanner's  Martyrdom,  etc. 


TWO  ANTI-SLAVEBY  EPISODES.  165 

away,  and  the  city  furnished  its  full  quota  of  men  at  the 
summons  of  the  second  Anti-slavery  Martyr  of  Illinois. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  episodes  here  recounted 
entered  with  other  influences  into  the  responses  of  the 
state  at  large,  which  put  as  many  men  into  the  Union 
army  as  the  whole  population  of  Illinois  amounted  to 
when  Mr.  Turner  began  his  life  at  Quincy. 

An  immediate  effect  of  Lovejoy's  murder  was  the 
making  Illinois  Congregationalists  abolitionists  "from 
that  hour."  Another  was  the  serious  consideration  by 
the  pastor  at  Quincy  of  the  question  of  becoming  the  lec- 
turing agent  of  the  new  State  Anti-Slavery  Society.  An 
admirable  letter  of  Rev.  Albert  Hale  dissuaded  him  on 
the  excellent  ground  that  his  training,  attainments,  and 
experience  fitted  him  to  be  more  useful  in  the  pastorship 
of  a  church. 

The  only  mention  of  these  episodes  in  letters  to  New 
York  was  one  of  June  7,  1836 :  "  Dr.  Nelson  has  been 
driven  here  by  a  mob.  Excitement  very  great.  Cause, 
holiness  in  the  form  of  Presbyterianism  and  abolition. 
Mobs  are  threatened  here.  What  will  be  the  end  I 
know  not." 


XX. 


FRESH   FIELDS.  —  EARLY   IOWA. 

With  a  heart  still  hungry  for  the  conversion  of  men 
the  courageous  Christian  reformer  was  cultivating  the 
Quincy  field.  In  November,  1837,  the  Denmark  brethren 
had  written  to  Mr.  Reed,  who  had  visited  their  region 
(not  missing  the  place,  as  we  shall  see  that  Mr.  Turner 
did)  asking  that  they  would  come  together  and  assist  in  a 
church  organization.  "  About  thirty  members  here  of  our 
own  denomination ;  we  hope  by  renewing  covenant  obliga- 
tions that  we  may  be  excited  to  newness  of  life  and  new 
obedience."  The  two  ministers  were  afraid  to  put  the 
Mississippi  (liable  to  freeze  up  or  be  filled  with  running 
ice)  between  them  and  their  Illinois  homes  at  that  season, 
and  postponed  the  visit  till  spring.  They  were  the  nearest 
ministers. 

The  next  February,  Mr.  Turner  wrote  Mr.  Reed  :  "  We 
have  had  a  little  movement  among  the  dry  bones  here. 
Meetings  every  night  for  two  weeks  of  some  kind.  But 
the  church  are  not  engaged,  and  the  minister  is  not  en- 
gaged. Many  sinners  come  to  hear ;  some  thirty  say  that 
they  think  they  have  been  converted;  but  what  is  this 
among  so  many  ?  Praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness !  but 
I  ought  to  get  into  the  dust." 

The  two  parts  of  this  ingenuous  expression  of  a  faithful 
and  burdened  soul  must  be  taken  together,  in  order  to  do 
justice  to  the  man  and  the  pastor.  He  was  humble,  and 
yet  worthy  of  honor  for  Christian  usefulness  of  a  high 
degree.     Five  years  later,  he  said  to  an  Andover  senior, 


FRESH  FIELDS.— E ABLY  IOWA.  167 

who  had  written  him  :  "  We  feel  that  it  would  be  hard  to 
stay  in  New  England  while  the  wants  of  the  West  are  so 
great."  "Men  must  be  hunted  up,"  he  wrote,  "and 
preached  to  :  the  gospel  carried  to  them."  And  he  added 
the  strong  encouragement :  "  Doing  this,  with  a  proper 
spirit,  in  due  time  you  may  expect  to  reap.  While  I  was 
at  Quincy,  about  eight  years,  —  one  and  a  half  spent  in 
the  East,  —  about  four  hundred  united  with  the  church, 
two  hundred  by  profession,  two  hundred  by  letter.  Some 
four  other  churches  also  have  grown  out  of  that  one,  able 
to  support  their  own  ministers.  Where  I  am  now,  we 
commenced  with  scarcely  materials  enough  to  make  a  con- 
gregation :  we  now  have  a  church  of  some  hundred  and 
ten  members." 

How  the  Quincy  pastorate  ended,  the  autobiography 
tells :  "  I  had  been  opposed  to  the  installation  of  minis- 
ters, but  I  saw  the  difficulty  of  the  question  of  continu- 
ance coming  up  every  year.  When  they  voted  (1838)  to 
continue  me  another  year  I  declined,  unless  I  was  installed. 
I  had  [then]  a  call  to  settle.  At  the  meeting  at  which 
the  call  was  made,  there  were  sixty  male  members  present : 
forty-eight  in  favor,  twelve  against  it." 

Of  these  last  (against  installation),  Mr.  Reed  says :  "  I 
think  some  of  them  did  not  sympathize  with  his  earnest 
working  piety ;  with  one  or  two  it  may  have  been  Presby- 
terianism  ;  and  I  suspect  that  his  calls  for  frequent  giving 
[very  frequent]  did  not  suit  others."  The  autobiography 
says  :  — 

"  The  question  of  my  acceptance  was  deferred  till  the 
meeting  of  the  Association  [which  he  had  joined,  leaving 
the  Presbytery  in  1836],  when  I  was  advised  not  to 
accept.  During  the  discussion  it  was  stated  that  I  was 
popular  with  the  church  but  not  with  the  young  people 
or  outsiders.     The  next  morning  I  was  called  upon,  and 


168  ASA    TUBNEB. 

offered  one  thousand  dollars  for  one  year  if  I  would  stay 
in  Quincy,  and  I  might  do  as  I  pleased  about  preaching. 
The  leader  of  this  movement  was  [Lieutenant-Governor] 
John  Wood.  I  thanked  them  for  their  good-will,  but  felt 
that  I  could  do  them  no  good  and  that  the  best  thing  for 
me  to  do  was  to  leave  immediately." 

One  of  the  twelve  said  he  did  not  know  of  "  any  minis- 
ter in  the  state  who  had  done  as  much  good."  He  after- 
wards became  a  minister  himself,  studying  for  awhile 
with  Mr.  Turner  in  Iowa.  "  His  opposition  did  not  inter- 
rupt the  kind  feeling  between  us." 

Half  a  dozen  years  later,  The  Home  Missionary 
(monthly  for  January,  1844)  reports  152  members  in  the 
Quincy  church,  in  1837  ;  contributions  to  foreign  missions 
since  1834,  two  or  three  hundred  dollars  a  year  —  besides 
gifts  to  other  benevolent  objects,  and  "the  amount  ex- 
pended by  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  for 
the  four  previous  years,  $  1,300,"  a  good  deal  overbalanced 
by  the  contributions  of  a  few  successive  years.  "  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  there  is  no  record  of  the  appropriations 
to  the  different  benevolent  societies,  that  the  friends  of 
home  missions  might  see  how  much  has  been  gained  to  the 
cause  of  benevolence  by  what  was  done  for  this  church  in 
its  infancy."  The  generous  urgency  of  the  minister  is  to 
be  credited  with  much  of  this  large  return  to  the  interests 
of  Christ's  cause  rather  than  to  his  own. 

After  he  had  passed  away,  one  who  had  been  of  the 
lambs  of  his  Illinois  flock  wrote  in  grateful  recollection  of 
his  tender  sympathy  and  varied  helpfulness  in  difficulty 
and  sorrow,  adding,  "  It  is  but  a  faint  idea  that  I  can  give 
of  the  noble  work  of  this  good  man.  When  I  see  the 
spires  of  the  churches  overlooking  our  great  river,  hear 
the  sweet  Sabbath-bells,  and  note  the  harmony  which  has 
ever  prevailed  here,  I   think    of  that   under-shepherd   of 


FRESH  FIELDS.  —  EARL  Y  10  WA.  169 

Israel,  who  first  led  this  little  flock  —  whom  the  hand  of 
the  heavenly  Shepherd  now  leadeth  by  the  clear  crystal 
waters  of  the  pure  River  of  Life." : 

In  April,  1836,  Mr.  Turner  with  Mr.  Kirby — neither 
then  "  in  commission,"  and  the  latter  not  yet  settled  at 
Mendon  —  had  visited  the  Black  Hawk  Purchase,  helping 
organize  the  Warsaw  church  on  their  way.  Mr  Turner 
had  seen  Iowa  in  1834.  "Passing  down  the  river  with  a 
Boston  gentleman,  before  Iowa  was  open,"  he  once  wrote, 
"  we  were  so  charmed  with  Davenport  [the  site  minus  the 
city]  that  he  proposed  to  get  up  a  colony  and  make  a 
settlement  there  if  I  would  go  with  him.  The  thing  was 
then  impracticable,  and  I  was  blind  to  the  future."  This 
must  have  been  after  General  Scott's  treaty  of  September, 
1832,  which  opened  Eastern  Iowa,  and  after  the  church  at 
Galena  was  gathered,  October,  1832,  and  on  his  return 
from  preaching  there ;  that  is,  in  1834  or  1835.  The 
Warsaw  home  missionary  (not  then  a  minister)  had  seen 
it  in  May,  1833,  coming  up  from  Macomb  to  Carthage, 
Commerce  (now  Nauvoo),  and  Warsaw.  "His  point  of 
observation  was  Commerce,  consisting  of  one  log  cabin 
and  a  corn-field.  His  eye  could  just  distinguish  bluffs  and 
prairie  with  timber-skirted  streams."  2 

The  two  Illinois  pioneers  journeyed  through  what  is 
now  seven  populous  counties,  —  Lee,  Van  Buren,  Henry, 
Des  Moines,  Louisa,  Muscatine,  and  Scott,  —  then  a  green 
wilderness.  A  mile  and  a  half  east  of  Denmark  they 
passed  northward,  missing  the  spot.  "  Mr.  Turner  may 
have  admired  the  clump  of  hickories  which  stood  there 
[on  the  West  Point  and  Burlington  road],  but  that  naked, 
uninhabited  prairie  was  forgotten  as  soon  as  it  was  passed ; 
yet  with  what  an  earnest  gaze  would  he  have  scanned  it 

1  Letter  of  Mrs.  H.  C.  Brown. 

2  The  Iowa  Band,  p.  58. 


170  ASA    TURNER. 

had  he  foreknown  that  there  he  was  to  do  his  life's  work 
and  love  it  better  than  any  other  place  on  earth  !  "  2 

The  next  October,  six  counties  were  erected  where 
there  had  been  but  two,  Des  Moines  and  Dubuque,  and 
two  years  later  fifteen  more. 

On  this  jaunt  of  discovery,  Mr.  Kirby  preached  at  Farm- 
ington,  or  Burlington,  the  first  Congregational  sermon  in 
Iowa.  Mr.  Turner's  at  Fort  Madison  would  have  been 
so  accounted  had  he  not  been  still  a  Presbyterian.  He 
preached  the  first  Protestant  sermon  in  what  is  now 
Scott  County,  at  the  mouth  of  Crow  Creek.  Writing  me 
(1856)  he  said  :  — 

"  I  preached  at  a  place  about  eight  miles  above  Daven- 
port, where  there  was  quite  a  little  settlement,  at  the 
house  of  a  Brother  Chamberlain.  There  was  talk  of  some 
explorers  who  had  gone  up  as  far  as  the  Wapsipinecon. 
Dubuque  we  did  not  then  call  a  civilized  place.  True, 
there  were  some  half-breeds,  some  whole  breeds,  and  a  few 
miners,  but  *  it  was  n't  any  thing,  anyhow.'  All  the  West 
lay  spread  out  just  as  the  Lord  made  it,  in  all  its  primitive 
beauty.  Muscatine  had  been  disfigured  by  one  cabin." 
"  The  night  we  reached  there,"  he  said  once  at  General 
Association,  "  we  occupied  the  whole  place  for  sleeping  — 
an  uninhabited  cabin  of  one  room." 

Early  in  that  year,  Mr.  Chamberlain  had  written  from 
"  Rock  Island  Rapids,  Mo.  T."  (it  had  been  attached  to 
Michigan  Territory,  in  fact,  since  June  28,  1834)  that 
"the  country  for  a  hundred  miles  or  more  along  the 
[west]  bank  of  the  river  is  entirely  destitute  of  preaching. 
I  think  a  church  might  be  soon  organized  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  members." 

Of  Davenport,  Mr.  Turner  wrote :  "  In  the  center  of 
what  now  is  the  town  was  a  corn-field  ;  a  cabin  had  grown 

1  Early  Congregationalism  in  Iowa,  p.  4. 


FBESH  FIELDS.  — E ABLY  IOWA.  171 

up  to  the  eaves,  but  was  minus  a  roof  and  gable  ends. 
Le  Claire's  cottage  stood  about  where  his  house  does  now, 
a  field  enclosed  it  around  [depot  grounds  of  the  M.  and 
M.  R.  R.R.,  in  1856],  and  a  young  orchard  gave  promise 
of  future  fruit.  Some  two  thousand  Indians  were  en- 
camped on  the  ground  to  receive  their  pensions  from  Rock 
Island  [fort].  As  we  came  from  the  south  into  town,  we 
met  a  number  of  young  warriors  trying  the  speed  of 
their  Iowa  Morgans.  But  our  rushes  and  Cottonwood 
bark  during  the  winter  had  not  put  energy  enough  into 
their  muscles  to  make  their  speed  dangerous.  Many 
claims  had  been  taken  up  between  the  two  places  "  (Dav- 
enport and  Muscatine). 

In  another  letter  he  continued  the  story  of  home  mis- 
sionary reconnoissance :  — 

"General  Street,  Indian  Agent,  occupied  Fort  Arm- 
strong on  Rock  Island.  There  were  a  few  cabins  in  the 
town  [then  called  Stephenson].  I  crossed  the  river,  and 
made  my  way  down  the  east  side,  forded  the  wider  part 
of  Rock  River,  and  as  the  water  was  deep  (within  one 
foot  of  my  little  borrowed  ponies'  backs)  got  quite  wet. 
The  sun  was  just  going  down  as  I  got  to  the  south  bank. 
There  was  a  house  nine  miles  below  which  I  hoped  to 
find,  and  with  it  supper  and  bed,  but  missed  my  way; 
took  the  dragoon  trace  with  the  moon  as  my  guide,  keeping 
the  right  hand  of  this,  and  struck  the  timber  in  the  morn- 
ing opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Iowa  River,  forty  miles 
from  my  fording-place." 

The  cabin  he  struck  in  the  timber  that  morning  stood 
where  New  Boston  now  stands.  There  were  sixteen  in  it 
already,  but  a  log  cabin  in  those  days  was  never  full.  In 
another  letter  he  says  :  "  It  was  about  twelve  feet  square. 
The  woman  had  three  in  her  bed,  and  two  in  a  bed  sup- 
ported by  sticks  driven  into  auger  holes  in  the  wall.     She 


172  ASA    TUBNEB. 

got  up  and  took  one  [child]  off  the  floor  to  her  bed,  and 
the  other  to  the  patent  bedstead,  to  make  room  for  Brother 
Kirby  and  myself  to  lie  on  the  floor.  Brother  Kirby  went 
down  on  the  Illinois  side. 

"This  was  Saturday  morning.  I  had  an  appointment 
at  Yellow  Springs  [fifteen  miles  west]  for  the  Sabbath. 
The  ferryman  refused  to  take  me  across  the  Mississippi 
River  until  five  or  six  others  should  come  and  want  to 
cross.  I  offered  him  five  dollars ;  told  him  I  must  get  over 
to  preach ;  he  still  refused.  I  hired  a  skiff,  took  my 
saddle,  found  a  house  and  horse  three  miles  the  other  side, 
and  fulfilled  my  appointment." 

He  was  obliged,  however,  to  leave  his  saddlebags 
hanging  on  a  tree,  and  send  back  for  them.  The 
determined  pioneer  paid  for  these  hardships  and  his 
exposure  to  a  hot  sun  by  a  three  months'  sickness. 

What  now  was  the  Black  Hawk  Purchase  in  which 
these  explorers  preached  at  half  a  dozen  points  in  1836  ? 
It  was  part  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  from  Napoleon  in 
1803  by  Livingston  and  Jefferson  —  part  of  that  immense 
region  named  by  La  Salle  in  honor  of  Louis  XIV.  Per- 
haps it  had  been  included  in  the  vague,  unbounded  claim 
of  England  under  the  discovery  by  the  Cabots  (1499  or 
1497).  It  was  loosely  covered  by  the  French  claims  of  De 
Soto,  Marquette,  and  Joliet  (1541-1673).  The  last  two 
found  a  cluster  of  Indian  villages  four  days  after  they 
floated  out  of  the  u  Ouisconsin '  River,  but  whether 
opposite  the  mouth  of  Rock  River  or  near  that  of  the  Des 
Moines  can  not  now  be  determined.  Nearly  a  hundred 
years  later,  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris  (1763),  France  ceded 
her  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  to  England,  but  by  another 
and  a  secret  convention  gave  Spain  those  on  the  west. 
Iowa,  then,  was  Spanish  soil  during  our  Revolution.  Na- 
poleon claimed  it  again  in  1801.     After  it  was  purchased 


FRESH  FIELDS.  — E ABLY  IOWA.  173 

from  him,  it  had  been  successively  part  of  the  District  of 
Louisiana  (1804),  and  attached  to  Indiana  Territory; 
part  of  the  Territory  of  Louisiana  (1805)  ;  of  Illinois 
Territory  (1807);  of  Missouri  Territory  (1812-21); 
of  Michigan  Territory  (1834)  ; 1  of  Wisconsin  Territory 
(1836). 

In  1838  it  became  the  Territory  of  Iowa  (June  12). 
Before  this  date  Asa  Turner  had  been  invited  to  come 
thither;  two  months  later  he  came.  The  late  Senator 
Grimes,  who  came  to  Burlington  in  1836  (May)  while 
it  was  still  under  Michigan  law,  said  in  the  United  States 
Senate  in  1866  :  "  I  have  lived  in  three  different  territo- 
ries, under  three  different  territorial  governments,  although 
I  have  resided  in  the  same  town  all  the  time." 

General  Scott's  Treaty  with  Black  Hawk  in  1832 
secured  but  the  nucleus  of  future  Iowa  —  a  strip  of 
land  from  the  Mississippi  west,  averaging  forty  miles 
only  in  width.  The  Northern  Missouri  line  was  its 
southern  boundary  as  far  west  as  Van  Buren  County 
now  runs ;  its  northern  boundary  was  a  line  from  the 
"  Painted  Rocks "  above  McGregor  about  as  far  west. 
Above  this  lay  the  "  Neutral  Grounds  ;  "  that  is,  neutral 
between  the  Sioux  or  Dakotas  on  the  north,  and  the  Sacs 
and  Foxes,  who  had  driven  out  the  Iowas,  on  the  south. 
There  were  still  Winnebagoes  in  that  region,  while  beyond 
the  western  line  of  Scott's  treaty  Pottawatomies  held  pos- 
session. Within  the  Purchase  there  were  lands  released 
to  half-breeds  by   Congress  in  1834,   and  four   hundred 

*It  has  been  noted  by  several  writers  that,  after  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and 
before  the  laws  of  Michigan  Territory  were  extended  west  of  the  Mississippi 
north  of  the  Compromise  line  (January  20,  1834) ,  Iowa  had  no  local  government. 
It  will  be  seen  presently  that  there  were  hardly  any  settlers  for  years  to  be 
governed.  But  one  law  was  in  force,  at  least,  one  great  national  law,  namely, 
that  provision  in  the  Missouri  bill  of  1820  excluding  slavery  from  all  the  territory 
"ceded  by  Prance  to  the  United  States,  under  the  name  of  Louisiana,  north  of 
thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes  north  latitude." 


174  ASA    TUBNEB. 

sections  reserved  to  Keokuk  and  Wapello,  along  the  Iowa 
River.  In  1836  the  latter  was  still  there,  where  a  county 
seat  perpetuates  his  name.  That  year  the  United  States 
government  bought  his  reserve,  and  another  tract  in  1837. 
The  remaining  lands,  composing  the  "  New  Purchase ' 
farther  west,  were  bought  in  1842. 

Settlements  here  were  at  first  very  slow.  It  was  more 
than  a  hundred  years  from  Marquette  and  Joliet  to  Julien 
Dubuque,  the  first  lead-miner  (1788)  and  Louis  Honore 
Tesson,  the  first  Indian  trader  and  fruit-grower  at  the 
Lower  Rapids  of  the  Mississippi  (1799).  They  were  both 
French.  A  generation  then  passed  away  before  a  few 
Americans,  attempting  to  mine  at  Dubuque,  were  driven 
off  by  United  States  troops  (1832).  Three  brothers-in- 
law  made  settlers'  claims  at  Burlington  that  year.  David 
Tothers  was  living  three  miles  south-west.  In  July,  1833, 
Dr.  William  R.  Ross  from  Quincy  made  a  claim  nearer  the 
town.  That  year  Fort  Madison  and  Bellevue,1  which  had 
been  military  posts,  —  the  former  from  1809 ;  the  latter 
from  1812,  —  became  settlements ;  and  earlier,  in  the 
spring,  Antoine  Le  Claire,  General  Scott's  half-breed 
interpreter,  occupied  the  site  of  Davenport.  In  1834-35 
there  were  settlers  in  Van  Buren  County.  The  first 
election  in  Iowa  had  been  held  at  Burlington,  October, 
1834,  to  choose  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  a  constable; 
the  first  court  was  held  there  in  April,  1835,  and  the  last 
election  under  Michigan  law  in  November.  Bellevue  had 
been  first  selected  (in  1836)  for  territorial  capital;  but 
that  year  Burlington  was  actually  made  the  seat  of 
government  for  what  is  now  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  .Minnesota, 
and  Dakota.    There  the  Legislature  was  in  session  (1838) 

irThe  United  States  factory  and  stockade  fort  at  Bellevue  were  besieged  by 
several  hundred  Winnebagoes,  and  bravely  defended  by  Lieutenants  Hamilton 
and  Vasquez  with  about  thirty  men  (1812) .  The  Sacs,  Foxes,  and  Winnebagoes 
carried  a  blockhouse  at  Fort  Madison,  but  were  repulsed  (1813). 


FBESH  FIELDS.  — EABLT  IOWA.  175 

when  news  came  that  Iowa  had  been  erected  into  a  distinct 
territory,  and  there  five  months  later  the  first  Iowa  Legis- 
lature met.  Settlers  had  entered  Henry,  Jones,  Clinton, 
and  Cedar  counties  in  1836,  and  probably  Jefferson. 
Fourteen  counties  were  organized  northward  in  1838, 
up  to  the  Minnesota  line;  but  Fort  Atkinson  was  still 
needed  in  1842  for  protection  against  Indians.  The 
sites  of  Anamosa,  Independence,  Marion,  and  Cedar 
Rapids  were  not  far  enough  east  to  have  been  included 
in  the  Purchase,  to  say  nothing  of  Waterloo,  Grinnell, 
Oskaloosa,  and  Ottumwa.  The  surveyors  of  the  first 
state  capital,  Iowa  City,  had  Poweshiek's  band  of  Sacs 
and  Foxes  looking  on  from  their  camp  a  little  west,  while 
they  ran  their  lines.  The  present  capital,  Des  Moines, 
was  a  straggling  line  of  log  barracks  as  late  as  1846,  in 
possession  of  a  company  of  United  States  infantry  and 
one  of  cavalry.  They  were  there  to  prevent  hostilities 
between  the  Sioux  and  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  and  to  keep 
white  men  off  the  New  Purchase  on  the  Des  Moines 
River  till  Indian  occupancy  should  end.  This  was 
October  11,  1845,  three  years  after  the  cession  of 
the  lands.  When  these  troops  left,  the  next  March, 
what  was  to  become  the  largest  of  Iowa  cities  in  1888 
had  a  permanent  population  of  four  families  only  and 
about  twenty  souls.  Ottumwa,  now  a  great  and  grow- 
ing manufacturing  and  railroad  center,  had  about  twenty 
houses. 

It  is  instructive  to  remember  that  a  President  of  the 
United  States  had  once  so  little  anticipation  of  the  settle- 
ment of  Iowa  by  white  men  —  to  say  nothing  of  the  great 
states  and  territories  beyond  it  —  that  he  proposed  to 
distribute  the  soil  among  Indian  tribes,  removing  those 
east  of  the  Mississippi  thither  for  the  purpose.  How  the 
nation  should  discharge  its  duty  to  its  dusky  wards  was 


176  ASA    TURNER. 

then  quite  as  unsettled  a  question  as  now.  In  his  eighth 
annual  message  to  Congress,  December,  1824,  President 
Monroe  emphasized  the  dangers  threatening  them,  espe- 
cially those  within  the  limits  of  states,  from  the  extension 
of  our  settlements.  He  referred  to  their  possible  extinc- 
tion, and  the  necessity  of  their  gradual  civilization  upon 
a  separate  domain  of  the  nation.  "Between  the  limits 
of  the  present  states  and  territories  and  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains there  is  a  vast  territory  to  which  they  might  be 
invited  with  inducements,  which  might  be  successful. 
It  is  thought  that  if  that  territory  should  be  divided 
into  districts,  by  previous  agreement  with  the  tribes  now 
residing  there,  and  civil  governments  be  established  in 
each,  with  schools  for  every  branch  of  instruction  in  liter- 
ature and  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  that  all  the  tribes 
within  our  limits  might  gradually  be  drawn  there.  The 
execution  of  this  plan  would  necessarily  be  attended 
with  expense,  and  that  not  inconsiderable ;  but  it  is 
doubted  whether  any  other  can  be  devised  which  would  be 
less  liable  to  that  objection,  or  more  likely  to  succeed."  1 

This  contemplated  a  permanent  Indian  nation.  As  the 
government  of  Missouri  Territory  had  been  withdrawn 
from  Iowa  in  1821,  and  that  of  Michigan  Territory  not 
extended  over  it  till  1834,  all  free  soil  west  of  the  Miss- 
issippi was  in  view,  and  Iowa  was  part  of  the  vast  region 
to  be  districted  among  surviving  tribes.  Of  these  only  a 
remnant  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  remains  now  upon  her  soil, 
owning  their  lands  and  cared  for  by  a  United  States  super- 
intendent. This  is  the  Masquawkee  band  (squaw-men), 
365  souls,  on  the  Iowa  River  in  Tama  County.  That 
President  Monroe's  plan  did  not  succeed  prevented  the 
American  Board  from  sending  Mr.  Turner  with  his  con- 
temporary pioneers  (including  the  Iowa   Band  of  1843) 

1  Statesman's  Manual,  vol.  i,  976,  977. 


FRESH  FIELDS.— E ABLY  IOWA.  177 

to    some  large  Indian  missions  in    Iowa    as  foreign   mis- 
sionaries ! 

The  Iowa  portion  of  this  immense  proposed  reservation 
is  now  a  commonwealth  of  nearly  two  millions  of  souls. 
Now  and  then  one  dies  who  was  the  first  man,  woman,  or 
child  in  one  of  its  oldest  towns,  and  there  are  survivors 
who  have  seen  the  whole  of  its  wondrous  progress  from 
the  beginning.  While  these  pages  were  being  prepared, 
the  first  white  woman  who  ever  lived  at  Dubuque  died; 
she  came  to  Wisconsin  in  1828,  when  all  beyond  the  river 
was  Indian  wilderness.  Its  soil,  then  all  untilled,  pro- 
duced in  1888  a  greater  proportion  of  our  greatest  Amer- 
ican crop  than  that  of  any  other  state  in  the  Union  — 
321,629,962  bushels  of  corn.  Its  value,  at  the  average 
price,  was  nearly  $75,000,000.  It  exceeded  the  total  net 
earnings  of  all  the  national  banks  in  the  country  by 
$8,000,000.  It  was  equivalent  in  quantity  to  six  tons  of 
corn  for  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  Iowa.  This  is 
but  one  branch  of  production,  and  came  from  the  tilling 
of  only  7,797,000  acres  of  noble  soil  out  of  35,856,000.  If 
"corn  is  king,"  what  of  President  Monroe's  proposed 
Indian  Territory  of  sixty-four  years  ago  ? 


XXI. 

THE   GOSPEL    WEST    OF   THE   FATHER    OF    RIVERS. 

The  gospel  was  first  preached  beyond  the  Mississippi, 
so  the  tradition  runs,  by  u  Father  John  Clark,"  one  of  the 
first  six  Protestant  preachers  in  Illinois.  It  was  in  1798, 
the  year  after  he  came  to  the  country,  and  probably  below 
the  Missouri  line.  W.  D.  R.  Trotter,  of  Henderson  River 
Mission,  son-in-law  of  Peter  Cartwright,  "  perhaps  was  the 
first  traveling  preacher  who  broke  ground  in  Iowa." 

"  In  the  autumn  of  1833-34,"  says  Dr.  William  R.  Ross, 
first  surveyor,  first  clerk,  and  first  postmaster  at  Burling- 
ton, "  I  wrote  to  Rev.  Peter  Cartwright,  on  his  route 
north,  to  send  me  a  preacher.  He  licensed  Barton  G. 
Cartwright,  who  came  to  my  house  on  my  claim  in  March, 
1834,  with  an  ox-team  and  plow  to  break  prairie  through 
the  week,  and  preach  for  us  on  Sunday."  He  was  the 
first  to  preach  there.  But  in  May,  Peter  Cartwright,  Asa 
McMurtry,  with  Trotter,  and  B.  G.  and  D.  G.  Cartwright, 
held  there  the  first  camp-meeting  in  Iowa,  two  days,  and 
formed  a  "class"  of  six. 

That  year  at  Danville  the  first  of  the  Baptist  churches 
was  organized,  and  three  or  four  Methodist  and  Presby- 
terian families  arrived  at  Dubuque,  who  started  a  united 
prayer-meeting.1  A  Methodist  class  of  four  was  also 
formed,  and  these  two  classes  —  ten  persons  —  embraced 
all  the  Protestant  bodies  in  Iowa.  Two  ladies  at  Dubuque 
began  a  Sunday-school,  but  stores,  "  groceries,"  and  gam- 
bling saloons  were  in  full   blast  "  Sundays,    and   amuse- 

1  In  1833  a  cabin  for  school  and  worship  was  erected. 


WEST  OF   THE  FATHER    OF  RIVERS.  179 

ments  more  so  than  on  other  days.  In  November,  1833, 
a  gentlemen  holding  an  important  office,  being  anxious  to 
procure  a  Bible,  searched  the  town  for  one  in  vain,  and 
went  to  Galena  on  purpose  to  obtain  it,  for  which  he  paid 

Rev.  Mr.  K ,  about  two  years  afterwards."     A  letter 

published  in  The  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce  in  1836 
said  :  "  The  principal  amusement  of  the  people  here  seems 
to  be  playing  cards,  Sundays  and  all.  The  law  they 
carry  in  their  pockets,  and  are  ready  to  read  a  chapter  on 
the  slightest  provocation."  May  1  of  that  year  The 
Dubuque  Visitor  said  editorially :  "  Another  minister  is 
wanted  here  —  one  who  can  reason,  preach,  sing,  and 
enforce  the  fourth  commandment." 

The  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered 
at  Burlington,  July,  1835,  by  a  Methodist  presiding  elder, 
*rom  Missouri  Conference.  The  next  May,  the  Black 
Hawk  Purchase  was  transferred  to  Illinois  Conference. 
The  first  Protestant  church  edifice  of  any  pretensions, 
"  old  time  "  Burlington,  was  erected  in  1838,  five  years 
later  than  the   chapel-school-cabin  at  Dubuque. 

Rev.  E.  P.  Lovejoy  had  written  the  Home  Missionary 
Society  in  1835,  from  Missouri,  that  he  was  applied  to  for 
a  minister  for  Dubuque,  "  Michigan  Territory,  two  years 
old,  nearly  a  thousand  inhabitants."  Rev.  A.  Kent, 
Galena,  enforced  the  application.  In  December,  Mr. 
Lovejoy  wrote  :  u  The  Popish  priest  is  before  you  "  — 
foundations  for  a  Roman  Catholic  cathedral  having  been 
laid.  That  month,  however,  the  American  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  sent  Rev.  Cyrus  L.  Watson,  Mr.  Turner's 
old  neighbor,  thither.  He  had  been  there  in  1834  on  an 
exploring  tour  from  Rushville,  preaching  at  Canton, 
Peoria,  Prince's  Grove,  Bureau  Creek,  and  Galena,  where 
he  found  Mr.  Turner.  He  began  his  labors,  January 
1,  1836,  and  alternated  in  the   one    (log)  meeting-house 


180  ASA    TURNER. 

three  months  with  the  Methodists.  The  Dubuque  church 
records  say :  "  He  moved  the  people  to  build  a  house  of 
worship."  His  work  at  "Dubuque's  Mines  "  is  described 
as  "  a  remarkable  work,  the  foundation  of  the  subsequent 
prosperity  of  the  Presbyterian  and  Methodist  churches/' 

Mr.  Watson  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  born  in  York 
District,  South  Carolina,  February,  1800.  The  family 
emigrated  first  (1810)  to  the  neighborhood  of  Edwards- 
ville,  111.,  and  then  to  Pike  County,  Mo.,  near  the  town  of 
Louisiana.  They  were  there  besieged  by  Indians  in  a  log 
fort.  Mr.  Watson  was  converted  very  young.  He  made 
extraordinary  efforts  to  obtain  an  education,  at  one  time 
taking  for  the  purpose,  with  his  brother,  a  flat-boat  loaded 
with  pork  down  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans,  where 
the  yellow  fever  prevented  a  sale  of  the  pork.  To  pay  for 
this  unprofitable  cargo,  the  brothers  had  to  work  hard 
three  or  four  years,  after  walking  home  much  of  the  way 
from  New  Orleans. 

For  some  time  Mr.  Watson  taught  a  regimental  school 
at  Jefferson  Barracks,  St.  Louis,  studying  theology  mean- 
while with  Rev.  Salmon  Giddings.  Licensed  to  preach  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Missouri  in  1828,  he  then  taught  school 
at  Springfield,  111.  Ordained  in  1829,  he  was  commis- 
sioned home  missionary  for  Rushville.  After  his  short  term 
at  Dubuque,  1836,  he  preached  at  Bloomington,  111.,  and 
Rockford,  where  he  was  the  second  pastor  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church,  and  is  spoken  of  as  "a  genial, 
social,  elderly  gentlemen  '  (November,  1838-May,  1841). 
Also,  at  Milwaukee,  Cleveland,  Tecumseh,  Mich.,  Loda, 
111.,  and  Clifton.  Retiring  from  the  ministry,  he  died  at 
Peoria,  111.,  March,  1881. 

"  He  had  the  appearance  of  a  New  Englander,"  says 
Mr.  Reed,  "  and  he  was  one  in  his  sympathies  and  beliefs." 
"  He  was  a  strong  temperance  and  anti-slavery  man,  and 


WEST  OF  THE  FATHER   OF  BIVEBS.  181 

stood  boldly  by  his  opinions.  He  made  the  first  temper- 
ance address,  and  formed  the  first  temperance  society  on 
the  Military  Tract,"  perhaps  in  Mr.  Turner's  first  year 
there.  Dr.  Bascom  says  :  "  He  had  a  bright,  active  mind ; 
was  a  ready  speaker  and  an  acceptable  preacher,  a  decided 
New  School  Presbyterian,  and  in  full  sympathy  with  our 
Yale  Band,  1829." 1 

Three  years  after  he  left  Dubuque  (May,  1839)  a 
Presbyterian  church  was  organized  by  Rev.  J.  A.  Clark, 
Fort  Madison,  and  Rev.  Z.  K.  Hawley  from  Connecticut 
preached  for  it  sixteen  months  from  December,  1839. 
About  three  months  after  he  left,  Rev.  Mr.  Townshend 
supplied,  and  in  1842,  the  church  becoming  Congrega- 
tional, Rev.  J.  C.  Holbrook  was  called  to  a  long  ministry, 
as  it  proved,  and  one  eminently  successful. 

All  the  first  churches  organized  in  river  towns  were 
Presbyterian,  though  all  the  ministers  were  not.  Rev. 
William  P.  Ap thorp,  the  first  of  these  to  reside  for  any 
time,  was  commissioned  for  Fort  Madison.  He  was  born 
at  Quincy,  Mass.;  graduated  at  Yale,  1829;  studied  theol- 
ogy at  Princeton  and  Andover;  was  ordained  by  Harmony 
Association,  Mass.,  April,  1836  ;  and  in  July  following 
commissioned  at  New  York  for  La  Harpe,  111.  There 
seems  to  have  been  an  interval  between  this  service  and 
tha^  at  Fort  Madison,  and  he  did  something  to  prepare 
the  way  for  Mr.  Turner's  work.  After  leaving  Iowa  he 
preached  a  short  time  in  North  Carolina  and  in  Massachu- 
setts, and  was  a  teacher  in  Dr.  Nelson's  Institute,  Quincy. 
He  was  a  superior  scholar.    Later  he  was  home  missionary 

1  Mr.  Watson  reported  in  May :  •'  I  preach  in  some  of  the  neighboring  villages 
every  Sabbath,  when  not  employed  here,  and  once  a  week  preach  an  evening 
discourse  at  one  of  the  '  diggings '  in  the  vicinity."  Of  the  people  he  said :  "  I 
find  some  here  who  know  how  to  appreciate  the  ministration  of  the  gospel.  My 
visits  are  cordially  welcomed,  and  my  public  ministrations  well  received  by 
the  scattered  sheep  of  all  portions  of  Christ's  flock  here  and  round  about. 
Sectarian  strife  is  unknown." 


182  ASA    TUBNEB. 

at  Oskaloosa,  1848-51 ;  Port  Byron,  111.,  1852-54 ;  Moul- 
tonborough,  N.  H.,  1856-57 ;  Polk  City,  Iowa,  1862-65 ; 
Bo  wen's  Prairie,  1865-66  ;  and  later  still  joined  the 
Episcopal  Church.     He  died  in  Florida,  1883. 

After  Messrs.  Turner  and  Kirby  had  passed  north  on 
their  tour  of  1836,  the  future  founders  of  Denmark  came 
to  Montebello,  111.,  from  Quincy,  on  their  way  to  the 
Purchase.  Gospel  institutions  were  coming  with  them. 
But  it  was  a  year  before  a  Christian  minister  chanced  to 
visit  their  new  home.  This  was  James  Park  Stuart, 
teacher  in  Canton  Academy,  111.,  1836-37,  who,  with 
Robert  A.  Leeper,  whose  sister  he  had  married,  September, 
1836,  was  looking  up  a  college  site.  They  found  "a  wild, 
uncultivated  waste ;  Indian  wigwams  along  the  Skunk 
River ;  four  families  living  in  two  or  three  log  shanties." 
The  next  year  the  Leeper  brothers  had  a  house  here  for 
their  brother-in-law  to  preach  in,  though  he  may  not 
have  done  so  till  his  studies  were  over  at  Yale,  a  year 
later  still. 

In  January,  1837,  Mr.  Reed  preached  the  first  sermon 
by  a  Congregation alist  at  Keokuk.  It  was  in  "  Rat  Row," 
as  the  river  men  called  it,  below  the  bluffs.  The  town 
consisted  of  about  a  dozen  buildings  near  the  river. 
There  was  neither  Congregational  nor  Presbyterian 
church  in  all  the  region.  During  the  summer  fol- 
lowing, Rev.  W.  P.  Apthorp,  not  then  a  resident  nor 
under  commission,  preached  at  times  to  the  few  living 
near  "  The  Haystack,"  —  so  the  Denmark  Manual  and 
tradition  run,  —  and  returning  from  the  East  in  the 
winter  of  1837-38  did  so  occasionally.  Rev.  J.  A.  Clark 
was  the  first  home  missionary  preacher  at  Burlington, 
October,  1838.  The  place  was  a  bar-room ;  the  text, 
Ezek.  33 :  11.  That  year  an  Old  School  Presbyterian 
church  having  been  organized  (which  died),  another,  New 


WEST  OF  THE  FATHER   OF  RIVERS.  183 

School,  was  formed  in  November.1     In  1839  Mr.  Gaylord 
was  the  first  preacher  at  Fairfield. 

And  now  a  few  Congregational  churches  began  to 
struggle  into  being.  Those  of  Burlington  and  Dubuque 
(1839,  above)  changed  their  form  of  government ;  those 
of  Danville,  Davenport,  Fairfield,  and  Fulton  and  Lyons 
(originally  Union  Grove)  were  organized  in  1839 ;  that  of 
Farmington  in  1840  ;  those  of  Mount  Pleasant,  Brighton, 
and  Cotton ville  in  1841 ;  those  of  DeWitt  and  Crawfords- 
ville  in  1842 ;  those  of  Bentonsport,  Muscatine  (New 
School  Presbyterian,  Bloomington),  and  Maquoketa  in 
1843.  Of  these  earliest  churches  thirteen  were  originally 
Congregational.  Ten  of  these  were  in  existence  in  1842, 
with  eight  ministers  and  two  hundred  and  forty-three 
members ;  while  besides  them  were  about  as  many  Presby- 
terian ministers,  Old  School  and  New  School  together, 
with  a  dozen  churches  and  from  three  to  four  hundred 
members.  The  Baptists  had  less  of  either,  though  some 
of  their  churches  date  from  1838-39,  and  their  State  Con- 
vention from  1842,  and  within  ten  years  from  this  date 
they  counted  about  fifty.  The  Methodists  had  eighteen 
ministers  and  five  hundred  members ;  the  Episcopalians 
three  ministers  and  two  hundred  communicants.  It  is 
easy  to  see  the  vantage-ground  occupied  among  Protestant 
bodies  by  those  who  cooperated  in  home  missions  at  that 
time,  especially  by  those  who  led  in  this  cooperation. 
And  it  should  be  easy  to  see  from  the  results  what  must 
have  been  the  labors  and  the  qualities  for  laying  the 
foundations  of  many  generations  of  the  first  Congrega- 
tional builders  in  Iowa. 

4 

xBy  Rev.  L.G.  Bell,  about  the  time  of  the  Presbyterian  disruption. 


XXII. 

EARLY   DENMARK. 

While  Mr.  Turner  at  Quincy  was  loosing  tethers  to 
"go  West,"  others  in  New  England  were  preparing  to 
lead  his  future  way.  And  in  this  Providence  was  shap- 
ing a  Christian  future. 

In  the  fall  of  1832  he  had  made  one  of  his  addresses  to 
Christian  laymen  about  Illinois  at  New  Ipswich,  N.  H. 
"  William  Brown  and  Lewis  Epps  were  deeply  interested 
hearers.  A  year  or  two  later,  Lewis  Epps  visited  Quincy 
on  business,  and  on  his  return  confirmed  Mr.  Turner's 
statements."  That  brought  him  and  two  others,  Timothy 
Fox  and  Curtis  Shedd,  with  their  families,  to  Quincy  in 
the  spring  of  1836,  together  with  four  young  unmarried 
men.  They  journeyed  by  steamer  from  Providence,  R.  I., 
to  Philadelphia,  and  thence  by  Harrisburg,  Pittsburgh,  and 
the  Ohio  to  Quincy.  Mr.  Fox  had  a  brother-in-law  who 
was  building  a  mill  at  Augusta,  west  of  Burlington,  and 
on  visiting  him  they  bought  for  two  hundred  dollars  a 
squatter's  claim,  "  sufficient  for  four  farms,  and  a  good 
deal  to  spare,  with  a  small  field  fenced  and  a  log  cabin." 

That  was  a  "  double  "  cabin,  sixteen  feet  by  eighteen. 
"  It  had  two  half-windows,  a  puncheon  floor,  a  clay  hearth, 
and  a  sod  chimney.  If  the  top  of  a  chimney  is  that  end 
which  discharges  the  smoke,  it  might  seem  by  no  means 
certain  that  that  chimney  was  not  built  top  downward." 
Yet  that  cabin  in  October  received  a  fourth  family,  five 
persons  more :  William  Brown,  wife,  and  children.  They 
had  come  by  wagon,  fourteen  hundred  miles,  seven  weeks 


EABLY  DENMARK.  185 

on  the  way.  The  number  in  the  original  cabin  was  now 
eighteen,  one  person  for  every  foot  of  its  length.  No 
Iowa  dwelling  of  the  same  size  can  now  hold  so  many. 
The  next  year  five  other  families  came  with  other  single 
men,  three  of  them  from  New  Ipswich.1 

Messrs.  Epps,  Fox,  Shecld,  and  Brown  were  the  original 
proprietors  of  the  town.  There  are  traditions  that  it 
received  its  name  in  1835  from  John  F.  Edwards,  an 
Eastern  surveyor  then  visiting  Iowa,  and  from  Rev.  J.  P. 
Stuart  in  1837.  One  survey  under  the  town  name  is  said 
to  have  been  made  in  the  latter  year,  and  a  second  in  1839 
by  Mr.  Brown  and  the  county  surveyor.  The  township 
of  Denmark  is  twenty  square  miles  in  extent.  The  first 
white  inhabitant  was  John  O.  Smith,  who  made  a  claim  to 
land  April,  1835.  He  was  from  Illinois,  a  native  of  North 
Carolina.  The  first  child  born  in  the  township  was  his 
son.  He  was  sorry  when  he  heard  that  "  the  Yankees  were 
coming."  His  new  neighbors  soon  had  hay  in  a  large 
common  stack,  and  the  place  got  its  first  name,  "  The  Hay- 
stack." Between  The  Haystack  and  Fort  Madison  were 
four  or  five  cabins.  In  1837  the  "  Yankees '  had  a 
school-house,  Miss  Eliza  Houston  from  Lyndeborough, 
N.  H.,  being  the  first  teacher.  They  were  hard-work- 
ing and  intelligent  men  and  women ;  not  all  Christians, 
but  all  believers  in  religion. 

"  The  first  motive,"  said  one  for  himself,  who  joined 
them  from  New  Hampshire  in  1837,  M  was  to  find  a  climate 
favorable  to  consumption,  as  my  father's  family  was  dying 
of  that  common  disease  of  New  England ;  and  the  second, 

1  Samuel  Houston,  one  of  the  first  four  unmarried  men  to  arrive,  June,  1836,  came 
from  Lyndeborough,  N.  H.,  in  his  wagon,  eight  or  nine  weeks  on  the  way.  Others 
from  New  Hampshire,  Hillsborough  and  Cheshire  counties,  and  from  Vennont, 
towns  of  Hartford  and  Enosburgh,  came  earlier  and  later.  Those  not  elsewhere 
named  were  Edward  A.  Hills,  Henry  Hills,  Messrs.  Wright,  Callfield,  Sautel, 
Rattan,  Fletcher,  and  McKenzie.  Some  of  these  did  not  remain.  Those  who 
came  earliest  were  not  within  the  town  limits. 


186  ASA   TUB  NEB. 

a  cheap  home,  as  I  was  in  my  twenty-second  year,  and  had 
only  my  hands  for  capital."  "  I  believed  the  field  of  the 
Master  was  the  world,  and  that  wherever  Providence 
should  direct  me  I  would  find  work  for  him." 

The  future  of  pioneers  of  this  character  can  easily  be 
foreseen.  But  we  are  fast  losing  the  power  of  realizing 
their  toil  and  endurance  in  shaping  a  future.  Of  this  one 
of  the  Denmark  "  girls '  of  that  day  contributes  a  very 
realistic  picture.  Her  father  was  born  in  London, 
England,  1787,  was  a  sea-captain  living  near  Damariscotta, 
Maine,  and  feared  for  his  sons  the  temptations  of  the 
Maine  coast  to  a  sea-faring  life.  Their  destination  was 
Illinois,  but  on  their  four  weeks'  journey  westward  they 
heard  of  the  Purchase.     They  reached  it  October  4,  1837. 

"  As  we  drew  near  Burlington,  in  front  of  a  little  hnt 
on  the  river-bank  sat  a  girl  and  a  lad  —  most  pitiable-look- 
ing objects,  uncared  for,  hollow-eyed,  sallow-faced  ;  they 
had  crawled  out  into  the  warm  sun  with  chattering  teeth 
to  see  the  boat  pass.  To  mother's  inquiries  the  captain 
said  :  '  If  you  've  never  seen  that  kind  of  sickness  I  reckon 
you  must  be  a  Yankee  ;  that  '*  the  ague.  I  'm  afeared  you  '11 
see  plenty  of  it  if  you  stay  long  in  these  parts.  They  call 
it  here  the  swamp  devil,  and  it  will  take  the  roses  out  of 
the  cheeks  of  those  plump  little  ones  of  yours  mighty 
quick.  Cure  it  ?  No,  madam.  No  cure  for  it ;  have  to 
wear  it  out.  I  had  it  a  year  when  I  first  went  on  the 
river. 

This  decided  them  not  to  locate  near  the  river. 

u  We  stopped  in  a  cabin  while  father  '  prospected.'  He 
heard  of  a  Yankee  settlement  on  a  prairie  back  from  the 
river.  Hastening  to  it  he  found  two  small  cabins ;  two 
families  living  in  one  (Messrs.  Epps'  and  Shedd's),  and  Mr. 
Fox's  in  the  other.  Also,  a  mile  to  the  west,  in  a  little 
mite  of  a  house  lived  a  Mr.  Brown.     Thev  divided  with 


EARLY  DENMABK.  187 

us  their  'claim,'  and  helped  get  the  logs  for  our  house. 
The  fortnight  it  was  being  built,  we  lived  in  a  cabin  near 
Moffatt's  Mill  by  the  river ;  father,  our  brother  of  sixteen, 
and  a  young  man  who  came  with  us  being  made  welcome  in 
the  cabin  of  Messrs.  Epps,  Shedd,  Hill,  and  Houston.  That 
they  were  all  in  the  body  we  know,  but  how  they  all  lived 
there  I  can  not  tell,  only  that  those  little  pioneer  cabins 
had  extensive  possibilities,  as  also  did  the  heads  and 
hearts  of  their  occupants.  Every  night  mother  suffered 
from  fear  of  being  scalped  by  the  Indians,  not  knowing 
where  they  were  prowling  about.  But  she  did  n't  let 
us  know  it  at  that  time.  Wolves  we  sometimes  saw 
in  daytime,  and  often  heard  them  sniffing  around  the 
door  at  night  and  setting  up  blood-curdling  howls.  Father 
had  a  massive  [sea]  chest ;  it  took  the  united  strength  of 
our  family  to  drag  it  before  the  door  at  night  and  pile  the 
others  on  top.  Then  we  felt  secure  from  Indians  and 
wolves. 

"  Once  sister  and  I  went  to  the  mill  for  meal.  We  had 
nothing  for  bread  but  hulled  or  parched  corn,  pounded  in 
a  mortar  or  ground  in  a  coffee-mill.  Mr.  Moffatt  said  the 
water  was  too  high  to  grind,  but  he  went  to  his  house  and 
kindly  divided  with  us  their  meal.  When  our  cabin  was 
finished,  father  and  Mr.  Smith  came  for  us  with  an  ox-team. 
It  was  dreadfully  muddy  and  some  of  us  had  to  walk. 
Two  miles,  mostly  up-hill,  and  as  far  as  we  could  see  one 
long  view  of  black  mud :  the  steep  hill  tedious,  the  mud 
so  slippery,  and  no  sods  for  rest  or  impetus.  One  contin- 
uous tread-mill  slip.  For  the  first  time  one  little  fellow 
cried  to  go  home  to  Maine,  where  he  could  walk  on  stone 
walls  to  get  by  a  mud-hole.  Mrs.  Smith  had  delayed  her 
dinner  for  us ;  mother  would  n't  think  for  a  moment  of 
making  her  so  much  trouble  ;  but  Mr.  Smith  had  already 
stopped  the  team  at  the  door,  saying  he  'had  got  the  least 


188  ASA    TURNER. 

ones,  and  mother  would  have  to  follow.'  Turning  to  us 
children,  Mrs.  Smith  said :  i  You  are  tired,  are  n't  you, 
honey  ? '  and  looking  in  mother's  face  :  4  Rest  a  good  bit ; 
then  you  '11  feel  better  to  fix  up  your  house,  and  I  reckon 
you  '11  find  right  smart  to  do  there.'  Except  Mr.  MofTatt's, 
mother  had  not  seen  another  face  the  fortnight  we  were 
building,  and  our  nearest  neighbor  never  lost  a  warm  place 
in  mother's  heart. 

"It  somewhat  dampened  our  ardor  when  we  saw  our 
mite  of  a  cabin  standing  on  the  bare  prairie  alone,  and  to 
our  eager  inquiries  where  the  beds  and  table  and  this  and 
that  could  be  put,  mother's  cheerful  answer  would  be, 
4  Oh,  we  will  find  a  piace,  or  make  one.'  Yet  I  overheard 
her  tell  Mrs.  Shedd  that  when  she  came  to  that  dark  speck 
of  a  cabin  on  the  prairie,  with  such  desolate  dreariness  all 
around,  it  looked  so  unlike  home,  it  seemed  as  if  all  she 
had  given  up  rushed  through  her  mind  with  crushing 
force. 

"  That  fall  we  were  beset  with  difficulty  to  get  bread. 
The  water  was  so  high  mills  could  n't  grind.  Messrs.  Fox, 
Epps,  and  father  took  their  oxen  and  went  together  to 
West  Point  (perhaps  Lowell),  to  grind  corn,  with  the 
oxen.  Five  days  they  were  gone,  the  three  families 
living  on  hulled  corn.  Mother  said  she  never  thought 
she  would  get  so  tired  of  it,  '  but  we  would  be  thankful 
we  had  enough  corn.'  The  day  of  their  return  she  tried 
to  grind  wheat  in  the  coffee-mill :  ■  wanted  to  surprise 
father  with  a  flour  biscuit  when  he  came  home.'  We 
all  took  turns  grinding,  and  ran  it  through  a  number  of 
times,  but  the  wheat  was  tough.  Mother  kept  at  it  at 
times  most  of  the  day.  When  it  was  baked  it  was  a  small 
show  for  all  our  hard  work,  and  required  mother's  deft 
skill  to  make  it  go  round." 

When  their  pastor  came  from  Quincy  next  season,  he 


EARLY  DENMARK.  189 

pleasantly  called  this  hulled-corn-bread,  "  cake."  An  early 
fellow-laborer  testifies :  "  I  have  seen  his  children  more 
than  once  making  their  suppers  wholly  of  stewed  pump- 
kin and  milk.  I  have  heard  that  his  family  and  his  horse 
have  been  supplied  from  the  same  barrel.  In  those  days 
bacon,  corn-bread,  and  potatoes  were  the  staple  articles  of 
food ;  and  dried  apple,  pumpkin-butter,  and  the  native 
crab  and  plum  were  the  delicacies  of  the  table."  When 
the  writer  came  West  in  1844,  dried  peaches,  unpeeled 
and  bitter,  held  their  ground  on  the  best  furnished  tables 
in  Northern  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  and  Northern  Illinois,  and 
it  was  years  before  even  dried  apples  arrived.  When 
wheat  came  it  was  at  first  trod  out  on  the  ground,  and 
there  were  no  smut  mills.  Water-power  mills  for  grind- 
ing later  indicated  advancing  civilization.  But  there  was 
wild  honey  in  the  woods ;  grouse,  quails,  sometimes  par- 
tridges and  deer,  were  to  be  had  with  proper  pains  and 
skill,  and,  more  rarely,  a  bear.  Corn-dodgers  and  bear- 
meat  with  wild  honey  formed  our  fare  the  first  week  in 
Clayton  County,  Iowa,  in  1844. 

Besides  the  family  whose  representative  experience  has 
been  given,  there  came  in  1837  those  of  William  B.  Cooper, 
Ira  Houston,  David-  Wilson,  and  Charles  Whitmarsh,  with 
Messrs.  Hartwell  J.  Taylor,  Francis  Sawyer,  Jr.,  Timothy 
Sawyer,  John  E.  Leeper,  Orson  Newton,  Alonzo  Burton, 
and  J.  Gilman  Field.  There  was  now  one  Englishman 
and  one  person  of  Scotch  descent  in  the  settlement,  but 
all  save  one  had  come  thither  from  New  England.  Many 
were  professors  of  religion.  Accordingly  in  their  new 
homes  they  "erected  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  and  met 
regularly  on  the  Sabbath  for  worship ; "  in  their  cabins, 
of  course,  at  first.1    They  could  no  more  make  new  homes 

'  They  had  a  Sunday-school  "  every  Sabbath  in  one  of  their  two  or  three  log 
cabins  (July,  1837),  Deacon  Fox  reading  a  sermon."  The  next  summer  they 
organized  a  Sunday-school  again,  with  Rev.  J.  P.  Stewart  superintendent  awhile. 


190  ASA   TURNER. 

without  the  religion  they  had  learned  than  without  a 
school.  From  the  first  the  settlement  was  so  moral 
that  the  people  were  unknown  to  officers  of  the  county 
looking  up  delinquent  debtors.  They  all  knew  that  the 
traditional  moral  excellence  of  New  England  came  from 
its  churches.  Scattered  about  through  a  circle  of  six  or 
seven  miles  they  soon  spontaneously  followed  New  England 
example. 

"  In  the  spring  of  1838  they  took  measures  to  secure  a 
church  organization.  Rev.  J.  A.  Reed,  of  Warsaw  [the 
nearest  Congregational  minister  in  Illinois],  and  Rev.  A. 
Turner,  Jr.,  of  Quincy,  were  invited  to  assist.  May  5, 
1838,  thirty-two  individuals  assented  to  the  Articles  of 
Faith  and  covenanted  with  one  another  to  serve  the 
Lord.  They  were  the  first  to  unfurl  that  banner  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Mississippi  which,  more  than  two  hun- 
dred years  before,  their  fathers  unfurled  over  Plymouth 
Rock." » 

The  writer  of  the  Manual  was  not  aware  that  a 
church  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions  had  existed  at  Harmony  Mission, 
Bates  County,  Missouri,  1820-32,  probably  Congrega- 
tional. It  was  removed  to  the  Neosho  River  in  1832, 
and  became  extinct.  Rev.  N.  B.  Dodge,  missionary  to 
the  Osage  Indians,  organized  another,  June  27,  1835, 
at  Little  Osage,  Vernon  County,  Missouri.  But  this 
became  also  extinct  as  Congregational  by  turning  Pres- 
byterian, May  25,  1842.  Denmark  Church  is  thus  the 
oldest  existing  church  west  of  the  Mississippi  whose 
Puritan  "  banner  "  has  never  been  furled. 

"  After  the  church  was  organized,"  says  Mr.  Turner, 
"and  I  had  preached,  they  invited  me  to  become  their 
minister.  Immediately  after  the  [Illinois]  Association 
in  July  we  went  to  Denmark  with  three  children." 

1  Manual. 


XXIII. 


A  NEW  HOME   AND   WORK. 


In  a  private  letter  to  Dr.  Absalom  Peters,  the  object  of 
the  two  Illinois  explorers  of  the  Black  Hawk  Purchase  in 
1836  was  said  to  have  been,  "to  call  the  attention  of 
those  who  love  to  lay  the  foundation  themselves,  and  not 
build  on  another  man's,  to  that  interesting  field  of  labor." 

"  As  to  the  country,"  wrote  Mr.  Turner  from  Quincy, 
"  I  see  but  one  objection.  It  is  so  beautiful  there  might 
be  an  unwillingness  to  exchange  it  for  the  paradise  above." 
His  special  reference  was  to  the  lands  lying  along  the 
Upper  Rapids  on  the  west.  Of  the  Purchase  at  large  he  ^ 
said :  — 

"  The  soil  similar  to  that  of  the  Military  Tract ;  as  a 
whole  .  .  .  better.  Prairies  generally  dry  and  rolling, 
streams  clear,  —  of  course  more  healthy  than  they  gener- 
ally are  in  this  state,  —  better  supplied  with  timber,  water- 
power,  coal,  etc.  Several  places  as  densely  settled  as 
Morgan  County.  The  settlers  generally  of  much  better 
character  than  usually  falls  to  the  lot  of  a  new  country. 
For  enterprise,  intelligence,  and  industry  they  far  surpass 
those  who  first  settled  Illinois.  I  was  surprised  to  find  so 
many  comforts,  so  good  cabins,  so  large  fields,  the  growth 
of  two  years  :  fields  of  corn  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  acres 
well  fenced.  A  Methodist  preacher  had  been  on  the 
circuit ;  is  now  dead."  He  and  Mr.  Kirby  were  "  the  first 
Presbyterian  preachers  "  to  visit  the  tract. 

Early  Iowa  was  not  early  Illinois  over  again.  Its  popu- 
lation was  largely  different ;  no  ancient  French  colonies, 


192  ASA    TUBNEB. 

and  but  here  and  there  a  Canadian  settler;  no  large 
bodies  of  immigrants  from  southern  states.  The  New 
England  settlement  in  Lee  County  was  not  Quincy,  and 
Mr.  Turner  found  his  birth  and  boyhood  in  agricultural 
Massachusetts  made  him  at  once  at  home  among  the 
farmers  who  composed  his  new  flock.  He  had  an  earlier 
acquaintance  than  they  with  the  opening  of  new  lands. 
He  could  give  them  all  practical  appreciation  and  sym- 
pathy, and  not  a  little  e very-day  help. 

Crossing  the  river  at  Fort  Madison,  he  passed  the 
Sabbath  with  Mr.  J.  G.  Edwards,  whom  he  had  met  in  New 
York  City  in  1829,  at  the  home  of  David  Hale,  Esq., 
editor  of  The  Journal  of  Commerce.  Mr.  Edwards  took 
Mr.  Turner  to  the  room  occupied  at  Mr.  Hale's  by  himself 
and  Mrs.  Edwards,  saying,  "  I  have  brought  a  gentleman  to 
see  you  who  is  going  to  join  us  in  Illinois."  Mrs.  Edwards 
beginning  to  apologize  for  not  being  prepared  for  a  call, 
Mr.  Turner  at  once  said :  u  Oh,  never  mind  ;  I  suppose  we 
shall  all  have  to  live  in  one  room  when  we  get  to  Illinois.,, 
These  excellent  persons,  for  many  years  so  useful  in  Illinois 
and  Iowa,  had  become  interested  in  Christian  lay  emigra- 
tion to  the  West  through  the  appeals  of  Rev.  J.  M.  Ellis 
at  Boston.  They  had  come  West  with  Messrs.  Baldwin 
and  Sturtevant,  November,  1829.  From  1831  to  1837  Mr. 
Edwards  had  published  at  Jacksonville  The  Illinois  Patriot, 
and  had  begun  to  issue  The  Fort  Madison  Patriot,  March 
24,  1838.  He  was  interested  in  "  The  Haystack,"  through 
the  plans  of  Messrs.  Leeper  and  Stuart,  related  elsewhere, 
before  it  became  Denmark.  The  winter  after  Mr.  Turner 
came  he  removed  to  Burlington  from  Fort  Madison,  and 
issued  The  Burlington  Patriot,  December  13,  the  name  of 
which  was  changed  in  1839  to  The  Hawk-eye,  which  it 
still  bears.  Mr.  Edwards  was  an  able  journalist.  He 
died  in  August,  1851,  and  Mrs.  Edwards  in  July,  1886. 


A  NEW  HOME  AND   WORK.  193 

Their    home    was  one    of   piety    and   happiness,    and    of 
abounding  and  unfailing  hospitality  to  Christian  friends. 

The  home  missionary  found  his  future  home  at  Den- 
mark, consisting  of  "  three  houses  and  the  school-house. 
The  house  in  which  we  spent  the  first  night  was  called 
'Copenhagen,  the  capital  of  Denmark,'  about  half  a  mile 
from  the  Center.  It  was  built  of  logs,  and  consisted  of  two 
rooms  and  a  sort  of  shanty  addition  for  a  bedroom.  It 
was  occupied  by  two  families.1  It  was  permitted  to  remain 
on  the  ground  for  years  after  it  became  uninhabitable,  as 
a  memento  of  early  times.  The  first  house  [in  the  town- 
ship] was  built  by  John  O.  Smith.  It  was  in  the  form  of 
a  rail  pen,  and  there  Mrs.  Smith  spent  one  night  entirely 
alone,  miles  from  neighbors.  The  men  were  at  Skunk 
River  fishing.  Of  course  the  fire  must  be  on  the  outside. 
She  kept  the  coffee-pot  on  the  coals  as  long  as  she  dared 
to  stay  out,  expecting  the  return  of  the  men  at  any  time. 
As  they  did  not  come  she  extinguished  the  fire  and  went 
inside  the  pen.  They  did  not  come  till  morning.  These 
few  settlers  were  subject  to  annual  visits  of  Indians,  who 
found  this  log  cabin  a  very  comfortable  stopping-place,  and 
many  times  the  floor  would  be  covered  with  them,  their 
icet  towards  the  fire." 

When  the  Denmark  Association,  then  future,  celebrated 
its  thirtieth  anniversary,  in  1873,  Rev.  R.  Gaylord 
wrote  :  — - 

"In  the  autumn  of  1838  I  visited  Denmark,  and  was 
the  guest  of  Rev.  Asa  Turner,  in  a  small  shanty  a  little 
east  of  the  present  church  edifice."  Sawed  lumber  was 
not  then  to  be  had  for  building.  With  it  came  houses  on 
the  village-site  :  John  E.  Leeper  building  the  first  ("  Che- 
bunk  ") ;  William  B.  Cooper,  the  second  ("  Swan ") ; 
Leeper,  the  third   ("  Academy  Boarding  ")  ;  Isaac  Field, 

iThis  was  the  original  "  double  "  cabin  of  Messrs.  Fox,  Epps,  and  Shedd. 


194  ASA    TURNER. 

a  residence,  and  Mr.  Turner  erected  the  fifth,  the  town 
proprietors  giving  him  two  outlots  for  the  purpose.  His 
family  passed  the  first  winter  in  the  unfinished  academy 
boarding-house,  their  rooms  above  and  below  all  in  one, 
without  floors  between.  Meantime  lands  and  homesteads 
had  to  be  secured.  How,  let  the  family  story  already 
quoted  relate  :  — 

"  The  next  fall  (1838),  one  year  after  we  came,  was  the 
first  government  sale  in  Burlington.  Much  excitement, 
and,  to  some,  great  anxiety  and  trouble.  They  might  now 
lose  their  homes,  or,  to  get  money  to  buy  them,  pay  fifty 
per  cent,  to  speculators  or  '  land-grabbers '  who  stood  ready 
to  bid  their  homes  from  under  them.  Father  knew  that 
the  money  he  brought  had  dwindled  so  it  would  not  be 
sufficient ;  the  money  owing  to  us  back  East  was  not  due, 
and  to  borrow  it  at  that  time  would  necessitate  his  going 
there.  The  journey  there  and  back  might  consume  two 
or  three  months'  time.  To  be  sure  of  being  in  season, 
father  had  started  for  Maine  in  August ;  he  got  the 
money;  but  coming  back  the  river  was  low,  so  he  was 
delayed.  As  the  time  drew  near  the  all-absorbing  topic 
at  home  was  father's  return.  Many  had  been  getting 
ready  for  a  week  to  go  to  the  sale,  taking  food,  cooking 
utensils,  and  blankets,  expecting  to  camp  out  several 
days,  and  not  knowing,  with  thousands  of  others,  when 
their  turn  to  bid  would  come. 

"  A  few  days  before  the  sale,  mother  became  so  troubled 
she  went  to  Mr.  Epps  and  Mr.  Fox.  They  told  her  that, 
if  possible,  they  would  bid  in  our  land,  or  otherwise  pro- 
tect it.  But  she  grew  so  anxious  she  could  n't  eat,  and  I 
don't  know  as  she  went  to  bed  at  all  the  night  before  the 
sale  opened.  Mr.  Fox  called  that  morning,  on  his  way  to 
Burlington,  to  re-assure  her  that  we  should  not  lose  our 
home. 


Turner  Parsonage,  Denmark,  Iowa. 


A  NEW  HOME  AND    WOBK.  195 

"  In  those  days,  waiting  and  looking  for  father's  return 
from  the  East,  not  knowing  what  had  happened,  we  con- 
stantly exercised  an  anxious  vigilance  towards  the  west 
for  the  Indians.  They  had  made  a  treaty,  but  we  knew 
of  their  treacherous  atrocities.  Large  companies  of  them 
often  passed  to  Burlington  from  their  camping-ground  a 
little  west  of  us,  and  would  stop  for  something  to  eat, 
asking  first  for  doughnuts  and  *  cow's  grease  '  (butter). 
Mrs.  Epps  first  gave  Black  Hawk  and  a  few  of  his  braves 
some  doughnuts ;  they  learned  the  word,  and  always  asked 
for  them.  They  were  always  hungry,  and  at  first  —  though 
their  capacious  stomachs  seemed  limitless,  and  every  thing 
cooked  in  the  house  quickly  disappeared  —  mother  did  n't 
dare  refuse  them.  It  will  not  take  a  very  extravagant 
stretch  of  imagination  now  to  hear  their  stealthy  steps 
coming  through  the  porch  into  our  house,  especially  on 
their  return  from  Burlington,  after  being  supplied  with 
4  fire-water.' 

"  Mr.  Epps  and  Mr.  Fox  bid  in  our  land,  and  in  a  few 
days  father  arrived  with  the  money,  to  the  joy  and  relief 
of  all."  He  had  worked  his  passage  down  the  Ohio  to 
save  expenses. 

At  Pittsburgh  and  between  Cincinnati  and  Louisville, 
he  had  happened  upon  two  other  Christian  families  bound 
for  the  Purchase  and  for  Denmark,  those  of  Isaac  Field 
and  Oliver  Brooks,  both  afterwards  deacons.  The  latter 
was  for  many  years  the  clerk  who  kept  church  records 
notable  for  fullness  and  accuracy.  As  the  fare  from 
Cincinnati  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  was  fifty  dollars, 
he  put  his  wife  into  the  cabin  and  economically  took 
a  deck  passage  for  himself.  The  steamer  had  a  keel- 
boat  in  tow  with  sixty  slaves  on  board.  On  this,  by 
the  captain's  permission,  with  the  offer  of  lumber  and 
nails,    this   anti-slavery    deacon    and    another    passenger 


196  ASA    TUBNEB. 

built  berths  and  an  eating-room,  supplying  their  own 
table.  On  landing,  Mr.  Field  bought  a  team  and  drove 
to  St.  Louis  through  Illinois,  passing  the  steamer  and 
being  repassed  by  it  on  the  way.  All  reached  Denmark 
the  same  day,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  having  been  eight 
weeks  from  Boston  "  direct."  Another  settler  in  the 
county  that  year  was  six  weeks  coming  from  Austin, 
Ohio. 

They  found  and  organized  church  in  a  shanty  sanctuary, 
which  was  to  be  school-house  as  well  for  eight  years.  It 
was  twenty  feet  by  twenty-four,  but  soon  lengthened  to 
forty  feet.  One  who  had  seen  it  before  the  organization, 
"  without  door,  floor,  or  windows,"  says  that  it  then 
"  looked  as  though  all  the  materials  had  been  taken 
from  the  stump  within  twenty-four  hours."  It  was 
hardly  done  when  the  church  was  formed.  It  had  a 
loose  floor,  partly  of  slabs,  was  unplastered,  and  covered 
with  "shakes"  (oak  splits).  The  seats  were  slabs  with 
no  backs,  just  enough  around  the  walls  for  the  primitive 
and  plain  congregation.  No  desk  at  first,  and  then  one 
or  two  upright  walnut  boards,  faced  with  two  cottonwood 
ditto,  and  a  six-inch  strip  nailed  on  top  —  all  native 
Iowa  wood.  Yet  over  this  bit  of  sacred  architecture 
the  pastor  testified  that  many  of  the  first  ministers 
preached  some  of  their  best  sermons  ;  and  not  to  have 
preached  there  was  almost  not  to  have  preached  then 
in  Iowa  at  all. 

Mr.  Turner's  first  preaching  previously  had  been  at  the 
cabins  of  the  town  proprietors.  His  permanent  ministry 
began  August  3,  1838,  to  be  continued  thirty  eventful 
years.  Giving  half  his  time  from  the  outset  to  more 
destitute  places,  he  was  appointed  the  next  July  the 
first  home  missionary  agent  for  Iowa,  "a  kind  of  half- 

dnt,  half-missionary,"  wrote  Secretary  Hall. 


A  NEW  HOME  AND    WOBK.  197 

The  town  was  now  laid  off  (January,  1840)  in  twenty- 
four  blocks,  enclosing  a  park  of  four  blocks — the  whole 
plat  three  quarters  of  a  mile  square,  on  a  naked,  treeless 
prairie.  No  log  cabin  was  ever  erected  within  the  plat. 
It  is  nine  miles  north  of  Fort  Madison. 


XXIV. 

FIRST   FELLOW-PIONEERS    IN  IOWA. 

It  was  Mr.  Turner's  good  fortune  to  find  west  of  the 
great  river,  as  well  as  east  of  it,  fellow-laborers  for  Christ 
with  whom  he  loved  to  labor,  and  to  whom  he  gave  affec- 
tionate confidence.  Geographically  those  in  Scott,  Jackson, 
and  Dubuque  —  and  even  in  Henry  and  Jefferson  —  coun- 
ties, who  carried  the  gospel  in  advance  of  mail-coaches, 
were  far  from  him  on  whom  rested  so  largely  "  the  care  of 
all  the  churches,"  but  in  heart  they  were  very  near. 

A  few  ministers,  principally  Presbyterians,  soon  went 
elsewhere.  Of  these,  as  nearest  to  him,  Rev.  William  P. 
Apthorp  and  Rev.  James  A.  Clark  should  be  mentioned. 
Mr.  Apthorp  preached  at  Denmark  irregularly  some 
months  in  the  winter  of  1837-38,  and  at  Fort  Madison 
till  the  following  August.  He  had  been  at  La  Harpe,  111., 
in  the  summer  of  1836.  He  was  a  superior  scholar,  a 
native  of  Quincy,  Mass.,  1806  ;  a  graduate  of  Yale,  1829  ; 
a  theological  student  at  Princeton  and  Andover,  1832 ; 
preached  successively  at  Raleigh,  N.  C,  Quincy,  Mass., 
and  Mendon,  Mass. ;  ordained,  1836,  by  Harmony  Associa- 
tion, Mass. ;  after  leaving  Iowa,  taught  in  the  Mission 
Institute,  Quincy,  111. ;  in  1848,  returned  to  Iowa  and 
preached  at  Oskaloosa ;  then  at  Port  Byron,  111.,  Moulton- 
borough,  N.  H.,  Polk  City,  and  Bowen's  Prairie ;  was  at 
Fairfield,  1867-68,  as  agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society ; 
joined  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  died  in  Florida  at  Talla- 
hassee, 1883.  Mr.  Clark  succeeded  him  at  Fort  Madison 
early  in  1838.     Born  at  Lebanon,  Conn.,  he  graduated  at 


Rev.  R.  Gaylord. 

(See  page  199.) 


V 


$  R  A  R  y 


>r  tut 


or 


FIB  ST  FELLOW-PIONEEBS  IN  IOWA.  199 

Yale,  1834  ;  studied  theology  at  Princeton  and  Yale ;  was 
ordained  by  the  Illinois  Presbytery;  preached  at  Fort 
Madison  till  1844,  and  awhile  afterwards ;  then  at  several 
places  in  Connecticut,  and  died  there  in  1881. 

The  first  of  his  Yale  friends  to  follow  Mr.  Turner  to 
stay  was  a  young  man  of  twenty-six  years,  who  entered 
Yale  the' year  he  reached  Quincy. 

Reuben  Gaylord  was  born  in  Norfolk,  Conn.,  April, 
1812.  Converted  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  gave  himself 
at  once  to  the  ministry.  With  his  pastor  (Rev.  Ralph 
Emerson,  afterwards  professor  at  Andover  for  twenty-one 
years)  and  at  Goshen  Academy  he  fitted  for  Yale,  and 
graduated  1834.  He  taught  at  New  Preston,  Conn.,  six 
months,  but  his  graduating  oration  had  so  impressed  Prof. 
J.  M.  Sturtevant,  that  he  was  persuaded  to  become  tutor 
in  the  four-year-old  college  in  Illinois.  Here  he  conducted 
the  preparatory  department  two  and  a  half  years,  study- 
ing theology  meantime  with  President  Beecher,  and 
graduating  at  Yale  Seminary  1838.  In  his  diary,  New 
Haven,  February,  1838,  he  records  :  — 

"  Went  out  five  miles  into  the  country  and  met  with  a 
man  just  from  Illinois.  Obtained  much  useful  informa- 
tion respecting  the  Iowa  District  [then  Michigan  Terri- 
tory]. Great  want  of  laborers  in  the  work  of  doing  good 
there.  In  Monmouth  and  vicinity  (Illinois),  five  hun- 
dred dollars  offered  for  the  support  of  the  gospel.  Some 
one  ought  to  go.''     So  much  had  become  clear ! 

"  March  19.  A  letter  from  Brother  Perry  [of  '33  ?  ],  who 
is  teaching  at  Troy,  Mo.,  and  one  from  the  Secretary  of  the 
American  Home  Missionary  Society,  relative  to  the  Iowa 
enterprise.  Several  brethren  of  this  seminary  have  formed 
ourselves  into  an  association  for  operating  by  a  combined 
effort  upon  the  Iowa  District,  and  the  Lord  seems  to  be 
smiling  upon  us." 


200  ASA    TURNER. 

In  this  connection,  he  mentions  his  class-mate  Buding* 
ton  (W.  I.,  d.d.)  going  to  Illinois,  and  Fowler  (Rev. 
Joseph)  teaching  in  Callaway  County,  Mo.,  together 
with  revivals  under  the  labors  of  Yale  men  in  Illinois,  at 
Springfield,  Jacksonville,  Quincy,  and  Warsaw. 

Having  been  licensed  to  preach  by  Litchfield  South 
Association,  June,  1838,  and  in  August  ordained  at  Terry- 
ville,  he  was  invited  to  preaGh  at  New  Preston  and  Wood- 
bury, but  came  to  Illinois  in  September,  being  four  weeks 
and  two  days  on  the  way.  In  December  he  preached  in 
Iowa  at  Mount  Pleasant,  New  London,  New  Baltimore, 
and  Danville,  being  probably  the  first  Congregational 
preacher  in  some  of  these  places  or  all.  Found  "lines  of 
division  "  strongly  drawn  between  denominations  ;  "  preju- 
dices easily  excited  and  hard  to  be  allayed ;  the  term 
4  Yankee '  to  a  Western  man  as  repulsive  as  like  poles  of  a 
magnet  to  each  other."  Letters  from  friends  at  Plymouth 
or  Round  Prairie,  111.,  in  the  winter  were  two  months 
reaching  him.  In  five  months  he  organized  a  Sabbath- 
school  at  Mount  Pleasant,  and  then  a  temperance  society ; 
then  a  church  at  Danville,  June,  1839  —  "  Father  Turner 
present "  ;  and,  after  living  a  year  at  the  former  place, 
took  up  his  residence  at  the  latter  for  sixteen  years. 
He  still  supplied  both  places,  sixteen  miles  apart,  till  a 
"  notable  accession,"  November,  1843. 

Mr.  Gaylord  did  much  general  missionary  work  in 
destitute  places,  and  in  organizing  churches  at  Fairfield 
(1839),  Mount  Pleasant  (1841),  Brighton  (1841),  and 
Washington  (1842).  Number  of  members  respectively, 
twelve,  seven,  ten,  and  ten  —  "a  day  of  small  things." 
In  his  diary  for  1841,  he  says :  — 

"  On  a  two  weeks'  tour.  But  two  houses  between 
Mount  Pleasant  and  Wapello.  About  half-way  to  Bloom- 
ington  [Muscatine]  met  an  old  Connecticut  school-mate 


FIB  ST  FELLOW-PIONEEBS  IN  IOWA.  201 

and  townsman,  C.  H ,  engaged  in  a  distillery.  Remon- 
strated.    Four   miles  out   from  Bloomington  another,  G. 

P .     At  Rev.  Mr.  preaches,  weak  brother, 

fallen  into  Old  School  ranks.  Davenport,  a  most  charming 
spot,  one  of  the  richest  prospects  anywhere  to  be  found. 
To  Marion,  sixty-six  miles,  to  Brother  Emerson,  who  is 
preaching  there.  Crossed  Cedar  River  at  the  Rapids. 
Superior  water-power,  if  improved.  Traveled  in  two 
weeks  and  two  days  three  hundred  miles,  and  preached 
seven  times."  Three  months  later  he  was  at  Davenport, 
"endeavoring  to  reconcile  a  difficulty  in  the  church." 
Succeeded  and  received  a  call.  He  was  installed  at  Dan- 
ville, May,  1844. 

Having  been  the  second  settled  Congregational  minister 
in  Iowa,  Mr.  Gaylord  —  dismissed  at  his  own  request, 
November,  1855 — became  the  first  in  Nebraska,  organ- 
izing the  first  church  at  Omaha  the  May  previous.  He 
had  been  in  1840  one  of  three  to  organize  the  first  Asso- 
ciation in  Iowa;  and  in  1857  was  one  of  three  to  form 
the  first  in  Nebraska.  In  1864  he  was  made  agent  for  home 
missions  in  Nebraska  and  two  tiers  of  counties  in  Western 
Iowa,  along  the  Missouri.  Resigning  at  Omaha  in  1871, 
he  was  sent  to  explore  Utah  and  Colorado.  Still  preach- 
ing in  destitute  places,  and  supplying  the  La  Platte 
church  three  years,  in  1875  he  became  pastor  at  Fonta- 
nelle  (the  second  church  organized  in  the  state),  and  after 
two  years,  of  the  Jalapa  church  also,  riding  twelve  miles 
each  Sabbath,  and  holding  three  services  when  past  sixty 
years  of  age.  He  kept  a  robust  constitution  and  much 
power  of  endurance  to  the  end. 

This  faithful  man  had  often  said :  "  When  the  Master 
comes,  I  hope  he  will  find  me  at  work  and  with  the  har- 
ness on."  In  1880,  during  the  Week  of  Prayer,  he  was 
unusually  active  and  earnest  in  devotion.     He  closed  the 


202  ASA    TUBNEB. 

Thursday  evening  service  by  saying,  "  The  themes  grow 
in  grandeur  and  in  importance  as  we  progress.  Bring 
your  friends  to-morrow  evening  and  let  us  have  the  best 
meeting  of  all  the  week."  The  next  morning  on  rising 
from  bed  he  fell  to  the  floor,  overworked  and  paralyzed. 
After  thirty-six  hours  of  unconsciousness  he  passed  away, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-seven. 

The  next  who  came  was  another  young  preacher  from 
Connecticut,  who  had  known  Mr.  Turner  there  and  in 
Illinois.  % 

Julius  A.  Reed  was  born  at  East  Windsor,  Conn.,  Janu- 
ary, 1809 ;  fitted  for  college  at  the  academy  there  ;  was 
nearly  two  years  a  member  of  Trinity  College,  Hartford ; 
and  graduated  at  Yale  in  1829,  two  years  after  Mr. 
Turner,  five  years  before  Mr.  Gay  lord.  The  next  year 
he  was  teacher  in  the  family  of  Hon.  William  Jay,  Bed- 
ford, N.  Y.,  and  in  1830-31,  at  Ellington,  Conn.,  in  the 
high  school.  For  two  years  afterwards  he  conducted 
a  private  school  at  Natchez,  Miss.  Studying  theology 
at  Yale,  1833-35,  he  was  licensed  in  August  of  the 
latter  year  by  New  Haven  West  Association. 

Mr.  Reed  had  traveled  in  Illinois  on  returning  north 
from  Natchez  in  1833,  and  in  1835  was  commissioned  at 
New  York  "  to  go  to  the  West."  In  April,  1836,  Illinois 
Association,  the  only  one  in  the  state,  ordained  him  at 
Quincy.  The  service  was  held  in  "  God's  Barn,"  Mr. 
Turner  and  Mr.  Watson  participating.  He  was  then,  and 
till  February,  1837,  home  missionary  at  Warsaw,  Monte- 
bello,  and  Nauvoo  ;  then  a  year  at  Warsaw  and  Carthage  ; 
then  a  year  at  Warsaw.  At  Nauvoo  (or  Commerce),  then 
innocent  of  Mormonism,  he  has  said  in  pleasantry  that 
Joseph  Smith  was  his  successor.  In  1839-40  he  was  chap- 
lain of  the  lunatic  asylum,  Worcester,  Mass. 

In  June,  1840,  Mr.  Turner  wrote  him :  "  The  people  and 


Rev.  J.  A.  Reed. 

(See  page  202.) 


FIBST  FELLOW-PIONEEBS  IN  IOWA.  203 

church  of  Fairfield,  Jefferson  County,  are  all  waiting  for 
you.  Situation  very  pleasant  and  healthy,  and  a  wide  field 
for  usefulness  in  the  county.  About  twelve  miles  north  is 
a  Yankee  settlement  called  Brighton.  I  think  you  would 
be  better  satisfied  here  with  us  Hawk-eyes.  We  should  be 
able  to  form  an  Association  this  fall.  A.  B.  H.,  I  under- 
stand, is  coming.  Enlist  him  for  Iowa."  (Mr.  H.  came  to 
Davenport.) 

Mr.  Reed  came  to  Fairfield  as  a  home  missionary ;  was 
installed  there  February,  1844;  dismissed  August,  1845, 
to  succeed  Mr.  Turner  as  agent  of  home  missions  for 
Iowa,  and  filled  this  office  with  great  industry  and  fidelity 
twelve  years.  In  1857  he  became  treasurer  of  Iowa  Col- 
lege, holding  this  office  till  1862,  when,  the  state  being 
divided  into  two  districts  for  home  missions,  he  became 
agent  for  Southern  Iowa ;  the  late  Jesse  Guernsey,  D.D., 
retaining  the  Northern  District.  Since  1869  he  has  had 
no  charge,  residing  about  ten  years  at  Columbus,  Neb., 
and  now  residing  at  Davenport. 

Fairfield  he  reported  in  his  second  year  as  "  eight  miles 
from  the  Indian  country,  partly  located  on  land  which 
three  years  ago  was  part  of  the  Indians'  hunting  ground" 
(Mr.  Gaylord  had  reported  "  fourteen  or  fifteen  families  " 
when  the  church  was  formed,  in  1839),  and  containing 
then  "rather  more  than  one  hundred  inhabitants.  In 
sight  of  the  Indian  fires  intelligent  and  attentive  congre- 
gations may  be  assembled.  No  Presbyterian  or  Congrega- 
tional minister  in  the  territory  more  than  fifteen  miles 
from  the  river,  except  Mr.  Emerson,  in  Linn  County,  and 
myself." 

The  years  from  1845  to  1857,  when  he  cared  for  depend- 
ent churches,  were  years  of  great  missionary  enterprise 
in  Iowa.  More  than  sixty  Congregational  churches  were 
born,  including  many  that  are  now  among  the  strongest. 


204  ASA    TUBNEB. 

The  years  when  a  college  —  part  of  the  time  without 
a  faculty,  and  almost  without  "  a  local  habitation"  —  was 
on  his  hands  were  most  critical  ones.  No  co-laborer  was 
so  closely  associated  with  Father  Turner  for  sixty  years. 
The  latter  wrote  him,  when  he  removed  to  Davenport  to 
take  the  state  agency :  — 

"We  have  been  associated  long  in  labors  here  in  the 
West,  and  so  situated  that  we  could  often  see  each  other. 
But  God  has  called  you  to  remove.  You  can  not  tell  how 
I  feel.  It  is  a  loss  to  me  which  will  not  be  made  up  in 
this  world.  I  love  our  other  brethren,  but  I  know  them 
not  as  I  know  you.  I  sometimes  feel  as  though  I  must 
weep.  But,  my  dear  brother,  I  hope  we  shall  love  each 
other  and  think  of  each  other,  if  we  are  wider  apart.  So 
often  as  it  is  duty  I  hope  you  will  try  to  call  on  me.  It 
will  be  a  great  favor.  I  thank  you  for  all  your  kindness 
and  labors  for  me  the  past  year." 

Mr.  Reed's  unequal  ed  familiarity  with  the  early  his- 
tory of  our  churches  gives  great  value  to  the  pamphlets 
he  has  published,  and  to  his  annals  of  these  churches 
printed  in  the  old  Religious  News  Letter,  which,  it  is 
hoped,  he  may  continue  while  materials  are  extant. 

The  third  of  Mr.  Turner's  fellow-pioneers  was  Rev. 
Oliver  Emerson,  Jr.,  a  native  of  Lynnfield,  Essex  County, 
Mass.,  March,  1813.  The  eldest  of  eighteen  children, 
thirteen  of  whom  lived  to  maturity,  he  was  "  accustomed 
to  hard  labor  from  the  beginning  of  life."  He  was  also 
burdened,  says  an  autobiographical  sketch,  "  with  frequent 
sickness  and  helpless  deformity  in  childhood."  It  was 
impossible  for  him  with  his  limbs  to  walk  in  farm  labor. 
The  town  had  then  less  than  five  hundred  people ;  the 
school  district  but  seven  families;  and  a  three  or  four 
months'  summer  school  furnished  his  primary  education. 
A  sober  and  thoughtful  crippled  boy,  he  was  nicknamed 


Rev.  O.  Emerson. 

(See  page  204.) 


FIBST  FELLOW-PIONEEBS  IN  IOWA.  205 

"  The  Deacon '  by  his  school-mates.  With  no  Sunday- 
school  literature,  no  prayer-meetings,  and  intermittent 
preaching,  as  to  his  religious  education  he  regarded  the 
memorizing  of  the  Bible  as  "the  chief  exercise. "  A 
devout  Methodist  local  preacher,  who  was  also  a  shoe- 
maker, first  impressed  him,  in  1827,  with  religious  truth. 
"  The  Congregational  churches  were  avowedly  Unitarian, 
or  largely  pervaded  by  that  unwholesome  leaven."  Join- 
ing the  Baptist  church  in  North  Reading,  to  which  his 
parents  belonged,  he  had  vivid  impressions  all  his  life  that 
this  denomination  and  the  Methodists  were  in  Eastern 
Massachusetts  "  God's  agents  to  separate  the  Unitarian 
leaven  from  the  Congregational  churches,  and  awake  them 
to  a  new  and  better  life."  The  Methodist  local  preacher 
became  the  teacher  of  the  district  school ;  "  his  school 
instruction  was  good  and  his  Christian  counsel  a  great 
deal  better."  1 

Early  in  1828  Mr.  Emerson  entered  Phillips  Academy, 
Andover,  Mr.  John  Adams,  principal.  An  address  in  the 
town  on  the  West,  made  by  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  that  year 
to  the  General  Association  of  Massachuetts,  led  the  earnest 
lad  to  fix  his  purpose  to  labor  for  religion  in  that  part  of 
the  land.  He  graduated  from  Waterville  College,  Maine, 
in  1835,  having  been  aided  here,  as  at  Andover,  by  the 
American  Education  Society.  In  his  first  college  year  a 
good  lady  in  China,  where  he  was  teaching  in  his  college 
vacation,  made  an  appointment  for  him  to  preach  in  his 
school-room.  At  first  refusing,  he  was  led  to  comply,  and 
to  discover  that  his  life  was  to  be  given  to  preaching.  For 
nearly  two  years  after  graduation  he  was  disabled  by  sick- 

1  **  The  district  was  too  poor  to  have  a  school-house,  and  our  rough  slab  benches, 
with  a  coarse  table  for  a  writing-desk,  were  carried  from  house  to  house,  wherever 
a  vacant  room  could  be  hired  for  school  purposes."  —Autobiography. 

"  I  left  the  Congregational  church  part  of  the  time,  because  for  the  first  time  in 
my  life  I  felt  the  power  of  a  preached  gospel.  I  sometimes  remained  at  the  old 
church  because  I  could  then  remain  unmoved."  — Autobiography. 


206  ASA    TURNER. 

ness  that  threatened  his  life,  but  still  taught  the  classics  in 
the  home  academy.  He  must  go  to  Dr.  Beecher's  Lane 
Seminary  for  theology,  but  despaired  of  means,  till  a 
memorable  experience  in  prayer  in  one  of  the  rooms  at 
Newton  Theological  Institution,  where  he  was  visiting 
college  friends,  revived  his  hopes  and  even  his  health.  "At 
last  a  few  ladies  helped  me,"  he  says,  "  to  sixteen  dollars 
for  work  at  their  social  gatherings,  and  my  father  gave  me 
ten  dollars,  though  he  expected  that  if  I  went  West  he 
would  be  called  on  to  help  in  bringing  me  back.  That  he 
would  not  be,  my  only  faith  was  that  God  had  told  me  to 
arise  and  depart,  for  that  was  not  my  rest.  I  was  in  abject 
poverty ;  needed  a  new  trunk,  but  could  not  buy  one  ; 
had  but  one  decent  suit  of  clothes  ;  my  only  overcoat  was 
light  and  thin ;  but  thirty  dollars  in  money,  and  could 
obtain  not  another  dime.  Obtained  certificate  of  good 
standing  as  beneficiary  of  the  Education  Society.  Spent 
three  or  four  dollars  of  my  little  stock  for  some  second- 
hand classical  books  for  the  use  of  which  I  was  hungry. 
Felt  that  I  must  have  them.  Some  of  them  are  by  me 
to-day.  [This  autobiography  was  written  in  1874,  in 
his  sixty-second  year.]  I  am  reading  one  of  them,  an 
old  copy  of  Cicero's  Orations,  the  present  week.  The  old 
Bible  my  mother  had  given  me,  1828,  —  the  worse  for  bad 
usage  during  my  long  sickness,  —  I  would  not  leave  behind. 
My  few  books  I  packed  into  an  old  dry-goods  box,  my 
clothes  into  the  old  college  trunk,  which  my  dear  mother 
had  bought  with  the  first  money  she  earned  when  a  young 
girl.  The  impression  to  the  last  was  that  my  project  was 
not  warranted  by  prudence  or  even  common-sense.  But 
it  seemed  to  me  that  I  could  trust  God,  and  that  he  would 
direct." 


XXV. 

\ 

FELLOW-PIONEERS.  — CONTINUED. 


On  a  Boston  "  coaster "  bound  for  Philadelphia  this 
half-alive  but  indomitable  invalid  started  for  Ohio,  bar- 
gaining for  passage  only,  and  taking  his  own  cold  provis- 
ions ("  bread  and  cheese  "),  as  he  did  also  from  Frederick, 
Md.,  to  Wheeling,  Va.,  on  the  stage.  His  stage  fare  would 
have  given  out  but  for  a  present  of  two  dollars  at  Balti- 
more from  a  lady.  "  It  was  a  token  that  God's  hand  was 
upon  me."  At  Wheeling  he  pawned  his  old  watch  for  his 
fare  to  Cincinnati.  Before  reaching  Cincinnati,  "seemed 
to  experience  at  once  the  advantages  of  a  change  of  cli- 
mate. Left  my  little  baggage  at  a  tavern  about  a  mile 
from  the  seminary,  and  went  to  the  place  on  foot. 
Examined  and  admitted  at  once.  But  I  had  no  money. 
The  last  dollar  of  paper  proved  uncurrent."  Lived  on 
milk  and  vegetables,  two  meals  a  day.  For  two  years 
earned  a  little  by  preaching.  But  the  Education  Society 
aid  was  cut  off,  as  the  Baptist  churches  in  Ohio  were  not 
open  to  its  appeals.  The  Faculty  started  self-boarding 
by  students  in  club,  on  account  of  their  great  poverty 
and  loss  of  seminary  endowments.  Mr.  Emerson  con- 
ducted the  club ;  took  care  of  the  building ;  rose  at 
four  a.m.  to  study;  broke  down  by  natural  law,  and 
was  sick  three  months. 

Passing  a  day  with  a  class-mate  in  Kentucky  he  "  was 
in  danger  of  personal  violence  for  the  expression  of 
anti-slavery  sentiment.  The  seminary  still  suffered  from 
the  difficulty  with  slavery  in  earlier  years." 


208  ASA   TUBNEB. 

Long  examination  of  the  question  of  close  communion 
led  this  devoted  Baptist  to  adopt  the  "  open "  view,  and 
Baptist  ministers  refused  him  ordination.  Dr.  Beecher 
planned  an  open  communion  church  for  him,  but  judging 
himself  not  strong  enough  for  such  a  task  in  or  near 
Cincinnati,  he  joined  some  Baptist  families  removing 
to  Davenport  in  the  Black  Hawk  Purchase.  Sunday 
before  Lane  anniversary  he  preached  at  Lawrenceburg, 
just  vacated  by  H.  W.  Beecher's  removal  to  Indianapolis. 
For  both  occasions  a  new  suit  was  needed,  which  he  was 
able  to  pay  for  two  years  after  with  the  first  money 
received  in  Iowa  from  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society.  His  theme  on  graduating  (July  10,  1840)  was 
"  The  Atonement  the  Fundamental  Doctrine  of  the  Gos- 
pel." The  evening  of  that  day,  with  two  others  of  his 
class,  Thomas  P.  Emerson  and  Charles  E.  Blood,  he 
was  on  a  steamer  for  St.  Louis.  "  I  felt  much  like 
Abraham  going  he  knew  not  whither,  but  only  to  the 
land  of  which  God  should  tell  him." 

"  Burlington,  the  first  town  seen  in  Iowa,  scarcely  more 
than  two  hundred  inhabitants.  Keokuk  made  no  preten- 
sions to  being  a  village.  Davenport,  four  hundred,  the 
largest  town."  After  preaching  awhile  to  the  Baptist 
church,  his  experience  on  close  communion  was  repeated, 
even  a  certificate  of  church  membership  being  refused. 
He  then  joined  the  Congregationalists  on  profession,  and 
they,  with  some  Presbyterians  and  Methodists,  employed 
him  to  preach  to  a  union  congregation  for  fifteen  dollars 
a  month.  There  were  more  churches  than  ministers. 
He  preached  at  Rockingham  also.  He  "boarded  round" 
like  old  school-masters  in  New  England.  Toward  spring 
the  first  revival  in  the  town  occurred.  The  services 
were  in  four  or  five  different  apartments  —  one  of  them 
on  what  was  known  as  "  Brimstone  Corner,"  the  preacher 


FELLOW-PIONEEBS.  —  CONTINUED.  209 

maintaining  that  it  should  be  "ill  with  the  wicked." 
"  The  last  service  was  in  the  large  cabin  built  by  the 
supporters  of  General  Harrison  the  previous  year  to 
promote  his  election  to  the  Presidency." 

Peculiar  as  Mr.  Emerson's  subsequent  life-work  was, 
it  can  only  be  epitomized.  He  was  the  apostle  to  the 
scattered  sheep  in  the  wilderness.  Though  sometimes 
making  a  home  for  years  in  one  place  (three  times  he 
thus  settled  at  Sabula),  he  felt  called  to  look  chiefly  after 
those  who  had  no  religious  privileges.  He  often  had  from 
four  to  seven  congregations  on  the  two  sides  of  the  Miss- 
issippi under  his  care ;  sometimes  from  six  to  ten.  Neither 
ill-health,  small  pay,  exposure,  loneliness,  nor  sore  bereave- 
ment checked  the  tireless  activity  of  this  home  missionary 
with  one  foot  like  one  of  Lord  Byron's,  and  a  heart  like 
that  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  Few  men  entirely  sound  in 
limb  and  body  ever  got  over  so  much  ground  for  the 
gospel's  sake,  or  even  for  that  of  gain,  or  ever  worked 
in  so  many  places  at  once.1  How  he  would  travel !  He 
was  specially  active  in  organizing  and  reviving  churches. 
The  whole  region  between  Davenport  and  Dubuque  was 
evangelized  by  him,  and  at  one  time  all  Tama  County. 
He  gave  up  his  commission  from  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society  when  it  would  not  treat  slave-holding 
by  ministers  and  church  members  as  it  did  intemperance. 

1,4  The  few  scattered  people  would  gather  for  preaching  any  day  of  the  week 
and  almost  any  hour  of  the  day."  He  "  went  east  as  far  as  Rock  River,  and  west 
nearly  to  the  limits- of  civilization."  He  continued  this  toilsome  life  till  in 
February,  1872,  he  was  found  insensible  in  a  fit  of  apoplexy  by  the  roadside 
between  Preston  and  Teed's  Grove,  having  fallen  from  his  buggy.  A  fourth  time, 
even  after  this ;  he  was  then  preaching  at  Sabula  —  a  six  months'  engagement.  The 
people  always  turned  to  him  in  an  exigency.  The  places  he  cared  for  were  Sabula, 
Savanna,  Albany,  and  Fulton  (111.),  DeWitt,  Maquoketa,  Cottonville,  Lyons,  Elk 
River,  West  Union,  Taunton,  Van  Buren,  etc.  etc. 

The  last  words  of  his  autobiography  are  :  "  I  still  love  to  preach,  but  can  do  so 
little  of  pastoral  work  that  I  wish  I  could  live  and  educate  my  children  without 
taxing  the  churches  for  my  maintenance.  But  my  habitual  sentiment  is  of  gratitude 
that  I  have  been  able  to  do  such  work  through  so  many  years." 


210  ASA   TUBNEB. 

This  was  in  1844.  No  home  missionary  had  done  such  a 
thing,  unless  it  was  Rev.  John  G.  Free,  of  Kentucky.  Mr. 
Emerson  was  ordained  by  the  Iowa  Association  (Messrs. 
Turner,  Reed,  and  Gaylord,  with  one  licentiate),  October, 
1841,  in  his  twenty-ninth  year.  In  1852  he  attended  the 
Albany  Convention,  deeply  feeling  that  the  Plan  of  Union 
was  working  badly,  and  that  aid  in  building  churches 
should  be  found  for  the  West.  As  early  as  1845  he 
brought  this  forward  in  the  General  Association  —  proba- 
bly the  first  in  the  land  to  do  so,  and  again  in  1851. 

Mr.  Emerson  was  a  ready  and  vigorous  preacher,  a 
minute-man  who  could  make  an  address  on  personal  reli- 
gion, evangelism,  or  reform  "  on  call,"  and  often  thrilled 
his  hearers.  In  a  speech  for  home  missions  once  he  called 
Iowa  "  the  very  Mesopotamia  of  the  West."  This  phrase 
the  writer  repeated  to  Hon.  Charles  Sumner  at  Boston 
a  few  weeks  before  his  death.  Mr.  Sumner  turned  to  his 
great  speech,  "  The  Crime  against  Kansas,"  and  read  in 
sonorous  and  sympathetic  tones  his  description  of  "the 
middle  spot  of  North  America," 1  adding,  "  I  almost  said 
the  same  once,  but  your  veteran  home  missionary  said  it 
better." 

It  is  in  a  very  cold  and  matter-of-fact  way  that  a  life 
has  been  thus  epitomized  which  ever  glowed  with  mission- 
ary fervor  and  was  noble  with  Christian  heroism.  Mr. 
Emerson  died  at  Miles,  November  10,  1883,  of  chronic 
kidney  disease. 

No  one  sympathized  more  profoundly  with  Mr.  Emerson, 
as  to  his  ecclesiastical  position,  his  views  of  pioneer  evan- 
gelism and  reform,  than  did  Mr.  Turner.  They  thoroughly 
appreciated  each  other.  They  met  in  the  spring  of  1841, 
and  this  led  to  his  ordination  at  Danville.  Mr.  Emerson 
savs : — 

i  Works,  Iv,  1,  37. 


Rev.  J.  C.  Holbrook. 

(See  page  211.) 


FELL  0  W-PIONEEBS.  —  CONTINUED.  211 

"Rev.  J.  C.  Holbrook  had  been  at  Davenport  during 
part  of  my  stay  there.  He  was  weary  of  playing  the  part 
of  Jonah,  and  was  about  yielding  to  his  long-cherished 
conviction  to  enter  the  ministry.  His  wife  was  sick  and 
died  soon  after.  We  obtained  the  loan  of  a  lame  horse, 
old  and  poor,  and  a  buggy  badly  shattered  and  nearly 
ready  to  fall  down.  With  this  conveyance  we  started  on 
our  journey.  We  knew  no  one  but  Mr.  Turner,  and  no 
one  on  the  way  —  pilgrims  and  strangers.  The  meeting 
was  held  in  a  small  school-house." 

There  was  perplexity  in  the  little  Association  in  the 
small  school-house  —  no  precedent  to  go  by.  But  Mr. 
Holbrook  testified  to  the  Baptist  brother's  ability  and 
usefulness,  who  declared  his  convictions  both  as  to  modes 
of  baptism  and  communion ;  and  the  Congregational 
brethren  ordained  him,  along  with  Thomas  P.  Emerson 
and  Charles  Burnham.1  "  This  was  to  the  few  original 
members,"  said  Mr.  Turner,  in  the  Quarter  Century 
Sermon  before  the  General  Association,  "  a  day  of  rejoic- 
ing. We  could  now  carry  the  '  gospel '  in  our  form  of 
belief  to  the  dwellers  on  the  Upper  Mississippi."  Mr. 
Holbrook  was  licensed  to  preach  at  the  same  time,  and  to 
share  notably  in  this  work. 

John  C.  Holbrook  was  born  at  Brattleboro',  Vt.,  Janu- 
ary 7,  1808.  His  grandmother,  Sybil  Lane,  was  a  de- 
scendant of  Governor  Bradford.     He  was,  as  a  boy,  "  full 

1  Thomas  P.  Emerson,  also  a  native  of  Maine,  and  his  cousin,  had  been  his  class- 
mate at  Lane,  was  home  missionary  at  Marion,  1840-41,  and  itinerated  along  the 
Wapsipinecon,  1841-42;  was  afterwards  a  Presbyterian  minister  in  Missouri,  and 
later  a  member  of  Grand  River  Presbytery,  Ohio. 

Charles  Burnham,  a  native  of  Pelham,  N.  H.  (1812) ;  graduated  at  Dartmouth  in 
Senator  Grimes'  class  (1836) ;  taught  in  Mission  Institute,  Quincy  (1838-40) ;  was 
licensed  by  Illinois  Association;  after  ordination  home  missionary  at  Brighton, 
1841-43;  Brighton  and  Clay,  1843-50;  Albia  and  Maryville,  1850-52;  Knoxville, 
Pleasantville,  Palmyra,  1852-55;  at  Brighton  (Institute),  1S44-50;  Bath, Maine,  1856; 
Meredith  Village,  N.  H.,  1857-71;  Jamaica,  Vt.,  1871-74;  Newfane,  1874-79.  Died  at 
Townshend,  Vt.,  1883,  of  heart  disease.  He  was  the  first  preacher  at  Chariton, 
Iowa,  July,  1850. 


212  ASA    TUB  NEE. 

of  life,  activity,  and  good  humor,  and  invariably  a  leading 
spirit  with  his  associates,"  a  fair  account  of  what  he  still 
is  at  the  age  of  eighty.  Two  years  in  Hopkins  Academy, 
Haclley,  Mass. ;  one  year  under  private  tuition ;  two  years 
a  cadet  in  Captain  Partridge's  Military  Academy,  Nor- 
wich, Vt. ;  he  succeeded  his  father  in  book-publishing  and 
paper-making  at  Brattleboro',  and  was  junior  partner  at 
Boston,  in  the  firm  of  Richardson,  Low,  and  Holbrook.1 
The  Comprehensive  Commentary,  William  Jenks,  D.D., 
editor ;  The  Encyclopaedia  of  Religious  Knowledge,  Prof. 
B.  B.  Edwards  and  J.  Newton  Brown,  editors,  and  the 
Polyglot  Bible  (English  Version,  American  Edition) 
were  planned  by  him,  and  he  returned  to  Brattleboro' 
to  publish  them.  He  was  clerk  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher's 
old  Hanover  Street  Church,  and  in  his  native  town  deacon 
in  the  same  church  with  his  father.  He  was  interested  in 
politics,  and  in  railroads  to  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  New  Haven, 
Conn. ;  and  as  an  original  trustee  of  the  state  insane 
asylum,  secured  its  successful  establishment.  His  busi- 
ness undertakings  proving  too  great  for  his  means,  the 
Brattleboro'  Typographic  Company  was  formed,  of  which 
he  was  president,  resigning  to  go  to  Iowa  in  1839. 

When  the  two  Northern  Iowa  pioneers  took  that  trip 
to  Danville  for  ordination  and  licensure,  Mr.  Holbrook 
had  been  a  teacher  and  a  trader  at  Davenport,  and 
had  had  one  winter  a  farm  at  Camanche.  After  being 
licensed,  he  was  invited  to  settle  at  Keosauqua.  Losing 
his  son  and  wife,  he  was  on  the  point  of  returning  East, 
when  Dr.  J.  W.  Clark,  of  Rockingham  (since  of  Platteville, 
111.,  and  San  Francisco),  offered  him  a  seat  in  his  buggy 
for  an  exploring  tour  through  Wisconsin  to  Milwaukee. 
This  was  the  turning-point  (February,  1842)  towards  a 

1  His  father  was  the  first  American  publisher  to  use  stereotype  plates,  importing 
from  England  those  of  the  quarto  Bible  in  1816. 


FELL  0  W-PIONEEBS.  —  CONTINUED.  213 

long,  energetic,  varied,  and  useful  Western  career.  Rev. 
Stephen  Peet,  agent  of  the  American  Home  Missionary- 
Society,  returned  with  them  to  the  mining  region,  where 
Mr.  Gallaher  had  been  preaching  with  power,  and  during 
a  revival  at  Potosi,  Grant  County,  which  the  two  preachers 
conducted,  sent  Mr.  Holbrook  to  Dubuque  to  fill  his  ap- 
pointment. Calls  came  to  the  latter  from  Mineral  Point 
and  Dubuque.  The  sagacious  home  missionary  agent,  a 
man  seldom  mistaken  on  practical  matters,  said  he  had  no 
idea  the  new  licentiate  would  remain  in  Dubuque  three 
months ;  but  he  began  there  in  March,  1842,  a  ministry  in 
the  West  of  twenty-two  years.  The  church  (organized 
Presbyterian  by  Rev.  J.  A.  Clark)  had  eighteen  members. 
Losing  its  unfinished  stone  building  by  mortgage  for  debt, 
and  getting  aid  from  New  England,  it  became  Congrega- 
tional. To  secure  certain  changes,  one  of  the  younger 
members,  now  a  widely  useful  state  home  missionary  agent, 
"  moved  that  the  whole  body  of  church  members  be  elected 
ruling  elders.  It  was  carried  almost  mm.  con.,  and  from 
that  time  the  church  acted  Congregationally,  and  finally 
adopted  the  polity."  It  then  changed  its  relations  from 
the  Mineral  Point  Convention,  Wisconsin  (Presbyterian 
and  Congregational),  to  the  new  Northern  Iowa  Associa- 
tion. The  pastor  had  been  ordained,  June,  1842,  by  the 
old  Iowa  Association  at  Davenport,  Rev.  Asa  Turner 
preaching  the  sermon,  and  installed  in  October  by  Min- 
eral Point  Convention,  Rev.  S.  Peet  preaching. 

Mr.  Holbrook's  great  vigor  and  enthusiasm  were  felt  in 
all  directions.  Dubuque  enjoyed  successive  revivals,  in 
one  of  which  between  eighty  and  a  hundred  were  added 
to  the  church.  Throughout  the  region,  both  sides  of  the 
river,  he  did  a  large  amount  of  laborious  revival  work  in 
three  adjacent  states.  At  one  place  in  Wisconsin  a  ware- 
house, at  another  a  barn,  and  at  a  third  a  gambling  alley 


214  ASA    TURNER. 

were  fitted  up  for  revival  services.  The  billiard  table  was 
the  pulpit,  the  balls  and  pins  being  collected  into  a  barrel 
in  an  adjacent  corner,  while  at  the  other  end  of  the  alley 
the  liquor-selling  and  drinking  went  on,  —  a  rough  board 
partition  between,  —  the  sound  of  the  toddy-stick  being 
heard  "occasionally  in  the  intervals  of  worship."  The 
son  of  the  saloon-owner  was  converted.  In  the  barn  (at 
Elk  Grove)  part  of  the  hearers  occupied  the  haymow. 
After  one  of  these  revivals,  a  meeting-house  was  sub- 
scribed for  by  the  gamblers  of  the  town.  Backwoodsmen, 
frontiersmen,  and  miners  of  the  hardest  character  abounded 
in  the  region.  In  one  secluded  mining  village,  ten  miles 
west  of  Dubuque,  "  The  Pet  Bear,"  as  he  was  called,  was 
converted.  Powerful  convictions  of  sin  had  seized  him 
under  the  first  sermon  he  heard  ;  the  home  missionary  of 
the  place  passed  nearly  the  whole  of  the  next  day  with 
him,  removing  his  objections  to  the  salvation  of  so  great 
a  sinner ;  the  next  evening  he  went  to  the  meeting  in  "  a 
tornado  of  oaths,"  occasionally  saying  to  himself,  "  Spew 
it  out,  Pet ;  it  is  the  last  time ;  get  rid  of  it ;  for  I  mean 
to  cut  a  new  set  of  houselogs."  As  he  returned  to  his 
cabin  "  door,  he  turned  to  his  wife  and  said  :  *  There,  wife, 
it  is  all  out,'  and,  with  such  an  expression  as  she  had 
never  heard  before,  he  cried  out,  '  O  God,  help  me  ! '  He 
took  a  seat  before  the  fire,  and  scarcely  altered  his  posi- 
tion during  the  whole  night."  "  One  day  he  went  home  to 
his  cabin,  sat  down  and  pondered,  and  at  length  —  as  he 
afterwards  said  in  his  examination  for  church  membership 
—  suddenly  jumped  up  and  exclaimed,  '  I  swear  I  will 
become  a  Christian,'  and  fell  on  his  knees  and  called  on 
God  for  mercy."  A  few  incidents  of  his  evangelistic 
work  were  published  by  Mr.  Holbrook  in  a  small  volume 
in  1863. 1     In  many  places  prominent  men  and  families 

1  Prairie  Breaking,  pp.  89.    Boston. 


FELL  0  W-PIONEEBS.  —  CONTINUED.  215 

were  converted,  notably  in  Galena  in  1843.      His  preach- 
ing was  stirring,  solemn,  and  pnngent. 

At  that  time  there  was  no  territory  north  or  west  of 
Iowa,  and  "  not  a  settled  minister  between  Dubuque  and 
the  North  Pole  or  the  Pacific."  On  one  of  his  first  trips 
up  the  Mississippi,  there  was  no  white  settlement  above 
his  home  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  and  the  Indian 
village  of  Red  Wing  was  a  "  foreign "  station  of  the 
American  Board. 

Iu  1853  two  important  enterprises  drew  him  to  Chicago. 
One  was  the  founding  of  the  New  England  Church,  the 
other  that  of  The  Congregational  Herald,  now  The 
Advance ;  The  Prairie  Herald,  nominally  a  Union  paper, 
having  been  bought  by  Colonel  Charles  G.  Hammond, 
Deacon  Philo  Carpenter,  Mr.  Lewis  Broad,  of  Dubuque, 
and  Mr.  Holbrook.  Both  enterprises  met  with  Presby- 
terian resistance,  and  required  toil  and  pecuniary  sacrifice. 
After  three  years  he  was  recalled  to  Dubuque  as  pastor. 
A  second  church  edifice  was  built  at  a  cost  of  forty  thou- 
sand dollars.  In  1863  he  was  called  to  Homer,  N.  Y.,  and 
during  his  six  years'  ministry  there  visited  Great  Britain 
for  the  American  Missionary  Association,  raising  nearly 
thirty  thousand  dollars  for  the  freedmen.  Two  years 
pastor  in  Stockton,  Cal. ;  nine  years  Secretary  of  the 
State  Home  Missionary  Society  of  New  York ;  acting 
pastor  of  West  Church,  Portland,  Maine,  he  removed  to 
California  in  1883,  where  he  still  resides  almost  as  active 
as  ever. 

Dr.  Holbrook  took  part  in  founding  Beloit  and  Iowa 
Colleges,  Rockford  Female  Seminary,  and  Chicago  Theo- 
logical Seminary ;  in  bringing  the  Plan  of  Union  to  an 
end,  and  separating  home  missions  from  slavery  ;  and  has 
been  for  nearly  forty  years  a  corporate  member  of  the 
American  Board.     His  pamphlets  and  letters  in  religious 


216  ASA    TUBNEB. 

journals  have  been  very  numerous.  His  reminiscences 
are  valuable. 

While  an  Eastern  layman  he  assisted  young  men 
preparing  for  the  ministry,  and  set  others  forward  when 
he  became  a  pastor.  Among  them  was  an  English  layman 
in  the  Dubuque  church,  of  admirable  simplicity  and  unity 
of  Christian  character,  who  was  afterwards  for  thirty 
years  a  home  missionary.  John  W.  Windsor  was  born  at 
Portsea,  England,  1802.  A  midshipman  at  eleven  years 
of  age,  he  was  on  H.  B.  M.  ship,  the  Cyane,  in  the  engage- 
ment with  our  frigate  Constitution ;  afterwards  in  Brazil, 
the  Shetland  Isles,  and  France  ;  in  1820  he  reached  New 
York,  and  was  converted  under  Summerfield's  preaching 
at  John  Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  next 
ten  years  were  passed  in  England,  where  he  became  a  lay 
preacher  among  the  Independents  at  Petersfield.  In  the 
spring  of  1844  he  came  to  Iowa,  and  settled  on  a  claim  on 
the  Little  Maquoketa  River,  with  a  family  of  eight.  In 
1845  Dubuque  became  his  home ;  his  pastor  found  Chris- 
tian work  for  him  in  that  region.  Licensed  by  Northern 
Iowa  Association,  1847,  at  Moline,  Illinois,  and  ordained 
at  Maquoketa,  1849,  his  work  was  done  at  Durango, 
Maquoketa,  Vernon  Springs,  New  Oregon,  Cresco,  and 
Keosauqua  (twice).  He  was  the  home  missionary  in  the 
"  Pet  Bear  "  incident.  On  a  visit  to  England  he  preached 
at  Petersfield  Independent  Church,  where  his  children  had 
been  baptized.     He  died  at  Batavia,  Illinois,  1881. 

One  of  his  two  sons,  converted  at  Dubuque,  and  edu- 
cated at  Iowa  College  and  Andover,  writes  of  his  parents : 
"  Theirs  was  a  life  cast  in  the  most  unpretending  mold  of 
Christian  service ;  but,  as  I  know  well,  of  the  most  loyal 
allegiance  to  the  divine  Master.  To  the  world  they  shone 
in  nothing  but  their  humble  goodness."  Not  among  the 
least  of  the  noble  influences  of  early  Iowa  missions  was 


FELL  0  W-PIONEEBS.  —  CONTINUED.  217 

the  drawing  "  from  pew  to  pulpit "  of  men  like  these  last 
sketched. 

Allen  Backus  Hitchcock,  a  native  of  Great  Barrington, 
Mass.,  born  1814,  in  a  family  productive  of  more  than  one 
minister,  was  at  Davenport  from  September,  1841,  to 
November,  1843.  His  parents  had  come  to  Fairfield  in  1837. 
Rev.  J.  P.  Stewart  supplied  Davenport  from  Stephenson, 

1840.  He  had  been  awhile  a  student  at  Harvard  College, 
and  graduated  at  Illinois  College,  1838,  and  Yale  Seminary, 

1841.  The  latter  year  he  was  ordained  at  New  Haven. 
After  vigorous  service  at  Davenport  he  became  in  October, 
1844,  (second)  pastor  of  the  Moline  church,  which  then 
passed  from  Davenport  Association  to  the  new  Rock  River 
(Illinois)  Association.  He  held  this  useful  pastorship 
twenty  years. 


XXVI. 

SECOND   PIONEER   PASTORATE. 

The  endorsement  on  Mr.  Turner's  first  commission  for 
Iowa  was :  "  The  times  are  very  hard,  and  the  prospects 
of  the  cause  of  benevolence  very  gloomy.  But  the  Lord 
reigns."  He  was  to  receive  for  half  his  time  two 
hundred  dollars  per  annum.  For  the  other  half  no  stipu- 
lation is  of  record  as  to  what  the  people  were  to  pay. 
But  fifteen  individuals  in  Denmark  guaranteed  that  the 
whole  salary  from  both  sources  should  amount  to  three 
hundred  dollars,  "  one  fourth  to  be  produce."  We  are 
told  that  "  the  present  inhabitants  of  Iowa  know  nothing 
of  the  poverty  of  its  first  settlers.  They  know  what  a 
poor  man  is,  but  a  community  of  poor  men  they  never 
saw.  In  1840  and  onward,  coke  was  worth  ten  cents  per 
bushel,  dressed  pork  one  and  a  half  cents  per  pound,  a 
cow  about  eight  dollars,  all  in  trade.  There  were  men 
who  had  good  claims,  good  cabins  and  teams,  who  wore 
through  the  winter  straw  hats  padded ;  some  wore  two 
pairs  of  summer  pants,  and  clothing  could  not  be  so 
patched  as  to  attract  attention  on  the  streets.  They  could 
dicker  for  the  products  of  the  country,  but  it  was  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  obtain  money  so  as  to  purchase  dry-goods 
and  groceries.  Mr.  Turner,  about  this  time,  rode  once 
nearly  half  a  day  to  borrow  money  to  take  his  letters  from 
the  post-office.  Postage  on  Eastern  letters  was  then 
twenty-five  cents." 

"  Come  with  me,  favored  children  from  ample  Eastern 
homes,"  says  a  daughter  of  a  settler  of  the  second  year, 


SECOND  PIONEEB   PASTORATE.  219 

"into  our  cabin,  twelve  by  sixteen  feet.  One  window  of 
three  panes  of  glass,  made  to  swing  out  on  leather  hinges, 
a  leather  strap  to  fasten  it  inside,  a  large  fire-place  with 
sod-chimney,  a  loose  floor,  a  slab-door,  with  wooden  latch 
and  leather  string,  an  attic  for  store-room,  to  which  we 
went  up  on  wooden  pins  driven  into  the  logs  on  the  left 
side  of  the  fire-place,  while  on  the  right  were  four  narrow 
shelves  for  a  cupboard,  with  a  curtain  hung  before  it. 
Two  bedsteads  in  opposite  corners ;  under  these,  two 
trundle-beds ;  back  of  them  three  swing-shelves  against 
the  wall  for  library.  The  table  in  the  center,  the  side  of 
a  bed  serving  for  seats  while  eating ;  at  night  the  table 
placed  across  the  hearth  so  another  bed  might  be  made  in 
the  center.  Every  thing  moved  twice  a  day.  Chests  con- 
taining our  clothing  piled  up  at  night,  and  spread  around 
in  the  morning  for  seats.  In  this  home  thirteen  of  us 
lived,  longed,  and  hoped;  yes,  and  enjoyed.  Some  of 
the  brightest,  dearest,  and  saddest  experiences  of  our  lives 
came  to  us  in  that  little  cabin. 

Rather  than  have  one  bliss  forgot, 
Be  all  its  griefs  remembered  too." 

With  such  pioneers  the  Yale  graduate  and  Quincy 
pastor  began  home  missionary  experiences  over  again. 
They  were  a  sincere  and  serious  people  and  simple  in 
their  ways  and  lives,  like  himself.  Nothing  shows  more 
their  old-time  Christian  faithfulness  than  their  examining 
and  propounding  all  who  came  to  their  church  fellowship 
by  letter,  even  from  Quincy.  They  began  with  the  Puri- 
tan intent  of  maintaining  church  discipline.  It  was  five 
years  before  they  had  to  excommunicate  a  member  for 
swearing,  neglect  of  worship,  and  Sabbath-breaking.  One 
of  their  first  records  is  of  a  case  on  which  a  committee 
made  this  straightforward  and  quaint  report :  — 


220  ASA    TURNER. 

"  We  have  examined  the  case  of  Brother ,  and  are 

satisfied  that  he  took  the  flour  thinking  that  it  was  his, 
but  should  have  seen  the  miller  and  known  certainly. 
Exonerated."  Years  later  an  excommunication  took 
place  in  a  revival  and  did  not  hinder  it.1 

For  fourteen  months  this  was  the  sum  total  of  Iowa 
Congregationalism.  It  was  not  so  self-reliant  as  not  to 
crave  Christian  fellowship  with  other  churches.  There 
being  none  nearer  than  those  of  the  Illinois  Association, 
it  joined  that  body,  meeting  at  Warsaw,  April,  1839. 
The  delegate  who  went  with  his  minister  testifies  that 
at  the  stopping-places  the  cordial  greetings  given  the 
latter,  with  the  evidences  of  his  power  for  good  in  Illi- 
nois, led  him  at  last  to  say :  "  I  don't  know  but  I  made 
a  mistake  in  moving  across  the  river." 

Later  in  the  year  he  was  re-assured  as  to  the  wisdom  of 
it.  "  Sixteen  were  added  to  the  church,  including  all  of  the 
original  pioneers  who  were  not  already  '  in  it.  He  held 
a  four  days'  meeting,  like  those  of  Illinois,  in  July.  Five 
heads  of  families  were  among  the  converts.  The  young 
frontier  church  nearly  doubled  itself.  "  We  now  number 
about  sixty.  Two  young  men  of  promise  will  prepare  for 
the  ministry.  One  is  the  son  of  a  deacon  in  Connecticut. 
He  thinks  it  a  wonderful  providence  that  he  must  come  to 
Black  Hawk  to  know  what  he  must  do  to  be  saved."  Two 
Yale  friends  of  the  pastor,  Messrs.  Reed  and  Clark,  ren- 
dered invaluable  aid.  On  New  Year's  day  previous  a 
Sabbath-school  had  been  begun,  —  the  first  among  Iowa 
Congregational  is  ts,  —  and  was  growing  and  useful. 

But  new  as  Iowa  was,  there  were  ten  places  of  ingress ; 
a  hundred  families  a  day  were  pouring  in.     "  Four  weeks 
planted  ten  thousand  souls  on  the  New  Purchase."     Mill- 
in  another  case  a  letter  of   dismission  was  refused  because  of  unchristian 
deportment,  which  was  followed  by  repentance  and  confession. 


SECOND   PIONEER  PASTORATE.  221 

ions  of  acres  of  Indian  soil  added  to  our  domain .  have 
always  produced  the  same  phenomena,  seen  more  than 
once  in  Iowa  — "  thousands  of  purchasers  for  months 
standing  upon  the  line ;  every  main  road  almost  literally 
lined  with  men,  women,  and  children,  with  their  flocks 
and  herds."  Again  and  again  "  the  army  of  occupation  " 
has  taken  possession  of  claims  at  midnight.  In  1841  the 
vigilant  picket-guard  at  Denmark  had  seen  the  western- 
most gospel  outpost  established  at  Brighton,  and  his  eye 
thenceforth  was  on  the  rich  valley  of  the  Des  Moines. 
"  Kneelandism  "  was  popular,  but  new  settlements  made 
liberal  offers  out  of  their  poverty  for  the  preaching  of 
God's  Word.  He  had  the  spirit  of  Gallaher  the  evangel- 
ist, when,  standing  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  in 
1832,  he  exclaimed :  "  South,  one  thousand  miles  to  the 
gulf ;  north,  fifteen  hundred  to  tiie  sources  of  the  Missis- 
sippi ;  east,  thirteen  hundred  to  the  head  of  the  Ohio 
Valley ;  west,  twenty-five  hundred  to  the  sources  of  the 
Missouri.  Lord  Jesus  !  this  land  shall  be  thine !  Thy 
Church  will  not  give  up  the  struggle." 

Mr.  Turner  entered  Iowa  —  "  The  Place  '  or  "  None- 
such," in  Indian  parlance  —  just  as  the  first  tide  of  souls 
began  to  flow  in.  The  census  of  1836,  when  he  and 
Kirby  coursed  through  its  eastern  margin,  gave  it  10,531 ; 
that  of  1838,  22,859  ;  that  of  1840,  42,500  —  doubling  the 
total  twice.  His  heart  went  with  God's  arousing  provi- 
dences. New  lands  so  filling  up,  he  said,  "  will  never  have 
a  superabundance  of  enlightened  evangelical  ministers. 
Numbers  will  grow  faster  than  we  shall."  And  this  holds 
good  in  Iowa  to-day. 

His  industry  in  surrounding  fields  of  religious  destitu- 
tion was  both  of  necessity  and  of  conviction.  Years  later 
he  testified :  "  This  is  the  only  practicable  way  we  can 
carry  the  gospel  in  our  form  of  belief  to  the  masses  of  tb  3 


222  ASA    TUBNEB. 

people.  Our  great  theory  of  laboring  behind  fortifications 
[alone,  he  meant]  should  be  given  up,  and  the  aggressive 
policy  be  entered  upon." 

He  could  not  himself  have  pursued  it,  however,  but  for 
the  faithfulness  and  painstaking  of  the  laymen  as  to 
home  affairs.  Who  could  better  record  than  he  what 
they  were  worth  to  Christ's  cause?  In  1880  his  grateful 
words  were  :  "  They  did  a  good  work  for  Denmark  and  all 
the  surrounding  country.  The  present  generation  will 
never  realize  how  much  they  are  indebted  to  the  first 
settlers.  They  have  left  a  rich  inheritance  to  coming 
generations." 


XXVII. 

A  NOTABLE   ACCESSION. 

In  June,  1840,  Mr.  Turner  wrote  to  an  Illinois  minister 
then  at  the  East :  — 

"I  have  been  here  now  almost  two  years,  and  during 
the  time  the  A.  H.  M.  S.  has  not  sent  a  single  man  to  this 
territory.  Do  try  to  find  some  more  good  men  and  true. 
We  need  some  ten  at  least  this  moment  —  imperatively 
need  them.  Why  should  this  most  interesting  territory 
be  left?  The  land  sales  are  over.  Settlers  have  got  their 
titles  to  earth.  Now  is  the  time  to  secure  a  title  to 
heaven.  ...  I  suppose  every  day  adds  to  our  number, 
even  Sundays.  Children  come  into  the  world  without 
respect  of  days ;  so  [people]  do  into  the  territory.  Do 
labor  a  little  in  our  behalf."  a 

By  request  from  New  York  he  now  made  an  exploring  * 
tour  of  inhabited  Iowa,  pushing  as  far  north  as  Dubuque. 
All  the  land  was  open  to  settlers.  Of  the  two  hundred 
and  fifty-four  townships  of  the  Black  Hawk  Purchase,  a 
hundred  and  ninety  had  been  mostly  sold;  the  second 
Purchase  (1837)  not  surveyed  — "  though  almost  all 
claimed,  and  immigrants  stand  on  the  western  border 
ready  to  step  over  the  first  moment  that  the  govern- 
ment gives  permission."  There  had  been  an  increase  of 
twenty  thousand  souls  in  two  years.  He  gave  fresh 
information  of  soil,  climate,  people,  health,  resources,  and 

1  During  five  years  "New  England  and  New  York  sent  one.  Rome  sent  five. 
Have  the  churches  yet  to  learn  that  the  best  time  to  teach  a  state,  as  well  as  a 
child,  is  in  its  infancy?  " 


224  ASA   TURNER. 

religious  destitution.  In  a  tour  of  three  hundred  and 
sixty  miles  only  three  persons  found  sick.  Every-where 
Christian  labor  called  for.  He  pleaded  with  the  Eastern 
churches  for  twelve  more  home  missionaries. 

"  May  the  Lord  incline  their  hearts  to  pray  the  first 
prayer  of  Paul!" 

The  next  year  he  asked  in  his  annual  report : !  "  Ought 
the  six  missionaries  (here)  to  be  left  to  labor  alone  with  a 
congregation  of  about  a  thousand  added  to  the  territory 
every  month?" 

A  year  later,  1842,  the  six  had  become  twelve,  and  on 
'  several  of  the  churches  the  Spirit  of  grace  had  descended. 
"  Ten  years  since  the  first  strip  of  territory  was  ceded  by 
the  Indians :  now,  in  less  than  four  years  from  its  political 
birth,  the  people  are  well-nigh  fifty  thousand.  But 
where  are  the  twenty  ministers  that  ought  to  be  sent 
[hither]  before  another  year  shall  end?"  Answer  years 
later :  u  Those  commissioned  at  the  East  had  to  travel 
over  a  thousand  miles  of  missionary  ground  before  they 
could  reach  us.  The  first  man  insured  through  was  Rev. 
Aaron  Dutton,  of  Guilford,  Conn.,  sixty-three  years  old, 
the  father  of  Rev.  Dr.  S.  W.  S.  Dutton,  of  New  Haven.2 
He  came,  he  said,  to  see  if  he  could  not  shame  some 
young  men  into  coming.  He  preached  through  the  sum- 
mer of  1843  at  Farmington  and  Burlington,  and  returned 
in  the  fall.     In  a  year  or  two  he  went  to  his  rest."  3     In 

1  Nothing  but  anguish  of  spirit  could  induce  such  a  man  to  put  forth  an  impracti- 
cable proposal  like  this,  namely,  that  some  Eastern  pastors  should  substitute  a 
month's  observation  "  in  this  beautiful  territory  "  for  a  fashionable  summer  tour  in 
Europe  or  a  visit  to  Saratoga  or  Niagara!  "  The  effect  on  their  health  would  be 
equally  favorable,  and  then,  how  much  good  would  be  done!"  It  is  not  known 
that  any  of  tbe  "great  and  good  men"  to  whom  he  appealed  took  it  into  con- 
sideration.—  The  Home  Missionary,  August,  1840. 

2 His  son  Thomas  came  also,  and  supplied  the  church  at  Farmington,  1843,  and 
died  without  charge  at  Durant,  1885.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Williams  ('32)  and 
Yale  Seminary  ^'36) ;  had  been  tutor  at  Williams  and  teacher  in  Georgia,  and  in 
Mendon,  m.  His  last  work  as  a  minister  was  at  New  Guilford,  Conn.,  1855-59,  and 
Ashford,  1859-66. 

3  Quarter-Centennial  Discourse. 


A  NOTABLE  ACCESSION.  225 

July  of  that  year  a  layman  who  had  given  one  thousand 
dollars  for  the  work  of  opening  Wisconsin  gave  the  same 
sum  for  similar  work  in  Iowa.  "Now  hope  began  to 
dawn." 

And  the  Spirit  of  God  was  moving  meanwhile  on  the 
hearts  of  certain  students  at  Andover.  They  began  to 
inquire  about  Iowa  as  a  field  for  consecrated  lives.  The 
first  queries  came  (March,  1841)  from  one  of  them  whom 
he  had  known  in  Illinois  College,  who  expressed  his  own 
strong  inclination  towards  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi. 
He  was  a  junior.  "  The  majority  of  Andover  students," 
he  said,  "  have  not  sufficient  zeal  and  energy  for  the  West, 
but  would  very  soon  acquire  [them]  by  mingling  among 
Western  people."  Several  seniors  had  offered  themselves 
to  the  American  Board.  He  could  report  none  as  con- 
templating home  missions,  but  asked  for  information  for 
the  "  Domestic  Branch  of  the  Society  of  Inquiry." 

The  next  January,  however,  a  corresponding  commit- 
tee of  that  society,  Messrs.  R.  S.  Kendall,  J.  J.  Hill,  and 
Horace  Hutchinson,  made  extended  inquiries  of  the  Den- 
mark pastor,  with  a  practical  purpose.1  "  Our  minds," 
they  wrote,  "  are  drawn  towards  the  Great  Valley.  .  .  . 
Compared  with  the  needs  of  other  parts  of  our  country, 
or  even  of  the  world,  at  this  juncture,  many  of  us  incline 
to  believe  that  those  of  three  or  four  North-western  states 
and  territories  are  particularly  urgent  and  imperative."  2 

The  points  on  which  they  asked  questions  were  number- 

1  About  that  time  another  offered  to  sustain  a  certain  theological  student  in  Iowa. 
"It  will  be  about  the  same  thing,  "  wrote  the  latter  to  Mr.  Turner,  "  as  though  he 
paid  the  money  into  the  treasury  of  the  A.  H.  M.  S.,  except  that  I  shall  be  sure  of 
my  support." 

2 April  28,  1843.  Dr.  Badger  to  Mr.  Turner:  "Letter  just  received  from  An- 
dover saying  that  six  or  eight  of  the  best  men  in  the  senior  class  are  determined  to 
make  Iowa  their  home.  I  rejoice  in  the  good  you  have  accomplished  at  Burling- 
ton. We  have  a  man  who  will  start  for  there  about  the  middle  of  May,  and,  if  he 
does  not  get  stopped  at  Milwaukee,  will,  I  think,  be  the  man  for  them.  His  name  is 
Chapin."    He  teas  stopped  at  Milwaukee  and  Beloit  College. 


226  ASA   TUBNER. 

less.     Twenty-one  years  later  lie  thus  gave  his  impressions 
of  them :  — 

"  Their  letter  would  have  required,  you  will  see,  a 
volume  to  answer.  T  have  no  remembrance  of  my  reply, 
but  one  thing  I  do  remember.  For  twelve  years  I  had 
written  so  many  letters  to  call  men  into  this  Western  field 
that  I  had  about  concluded  it  was  a  waste  of  time  and 
paper.  And  especially  after  I  got  to  Iowa.  I  had  heard 
so  often  of  ministers,  boxed  and  marked  '  for  Iowa,'  lost 
on  the  road,  that  I  had  lost  pretty  much  all  faith  in  spirit- 
ual transportation  companies.  I  did  not  really  believe 
that  a  batch  of  them  would  come  worth  their  insurance 
policy.  One  of  the  number  wrote  me  that  my  want  of 
faith  in  their  intention  operated  as  a  stimulant  to  make 
them  determined  to  come  anyhow." 1 

This  was  probably  the  one  to  whom  he  wrote  thus: 
"  June  7,  1843.  My  dear  young  brother,  I  am  happy  to 
hear  a  reinforcement  from  Andover  is  talked  of.  I  hope  it 
may  not  end  in  talk,  but  I  fear.  I  have  received  so  many 
promises  of  the  kind  that  they  do  not  now  even  begin  to 
excite  hope.  If  your  professors  should  write  and  say  that 
the  whole  class  would  start  for  Iowa  in  two  weeks,  I 
should  expect  to  see,  in  the  course  of  two  years,  one  or  two 
of  them  who  could  find  no  other  resting-place  for  the  soles 
of  their  feet." 

Some  of  his  answers  amused  the  young  theologues. 
"  Effect  of  climate  on  healthy  persons  about  as  great  as 
going  from  Andover  to  Lowell."  As  to  clothes :  u  Get 
firm  and  durable,  something  that  will  go  through  the 
hazelrough  without  tearing."  "  Lay  aside  all  your  dandy 
notions  which  boys  learn  in  college,  and  take  a  few  lessons 

1  This  by  the  way.  Their  decision  had  deeper  and  other  grounds.  Pulpits  of 
excellent  standing  in  New  England  were  not  only  open,  but  solicited  them;  a 
Nestorian  bishop,  Mar  Yohanan,  had  interested  churches  and  seminaries  in 
Persia.    "  The  field  is  the  world,"  and  Iowa  was  their  part  of  it. 


A  NOTABLE  ACCESSION.  227 

of  old  farmers  or  grandmothers."  "  The  people  will  not 
call  you  Rev.  Mr.  B.,  but  simply  A.  B.,  and  your  wife 
Peggy  or  Polly,  or  whatever  her  name  may  be." 

How  numerously  the  young  brethren  laid  the  question 
of  wives  before  the  experienced  missionary  is  not  known, 
but  letters  before  the  writer  all  broach  it.  "  It  would  be 
as  well,"  he  advised,  u  for  three  or  four  men  who  must  go 
into  new  counties  to  leave  the  better  half  behind  for  one 
or  two  years,  and  then  take  a  ten  days'  trip  to  old  Yankee 
land  "  for  them.1  "  Tell  those  two  or  three  who  think  of 
leading  out  a  sister  this  fall,  that  we  will  try  to  find 
homes  as  good  as  Keokuk,  the  high  chief,  and  his  lady 
live  in,  and  my  wife  will  have  that  kettle  of  mush  and 
the  johnnycake  ready  by  some  cold  night  in  November." 
"  Get  wives  of  the  old  Puritan  stamp,  such  as  honored  the 
distaff  and  the  loom,  those  who  can  l  pail  a  cow '  and  churn 
the  butter,  and  be  proud  of  a  jeans  2  dress  and  a  checked 
apron."  "  Tell  your  intended  that  no  evil  will  befall  her 
here  not  incident  to  our  fallen  condition,  and  not  one  trial 
but  will  be  overruled  for  her  eternal  good,  if  found  in  the 
path  of  duty."  "  A  wife  could  be  taken  care  of  in  any  of 
the  places  named."  "  Ride  round  and  be  the  instruments 
of  converting  some  hundred  souls,  and  gather  together 
some  half-dozen  little  churches,  then  go  and  get  a  wife." 
"  Give  my  love  to  all  that  little  band,  and  to  all  their 
intended  ones,  and  say  we  hope  soon  to  welcome  them  on 
the  west  side  of  the  great  Mississippi." 

The  reader  will  conclude  that  by  this  time  hope  as  to 
the  notable  accession  coming  had  got  the  better  of  skepti- 

1 "  Suggest  to  some  the  propriety  of  riding  a  circuit  for  two  or  three  years.  It 
would  do  a  young  man  great  good.  In  such  a  case  you  need  not  be  troubled  to 
look  up  wives,  as  I  presume  you  all  seek  such  companions  as  a  matter  of  duty  and 
not  of  choice  [!]."  "  Our  climate  will  permit  men  to  live  long  enough  if  they  do 
their  duty  :  if  they  never  will,  no  matter  how  soon  they  die." 

2  One  of  the  Band  once  asked  a  merchant  of  Kentucky  birth  what  language  this 
word  was.    "  Pure  Kentucky,"  was  the  answer. 


228  ASA    TUBNEB. 

cism  in  the  Denmark  parsonage.  The  counsels  given  — 
smacking  of  "the  Age  of  Homespun,"  and  touched  with 
humor  —  were  well  received.  One  suspects  sometimes 
a  tear  —  not  sad,  but  grateful  —  trickling  through  the 
humor.  Much  practical  advice  was  offered  as  to  the 
time  of  coming  and  routes. 

We  need  not  dwell  on  the  details  of  the  gathering  of 
what  had  now  become  "  The  Iowa  Band  "  (that  is,  of  nine 
of  them)  at  Albany  in  October,  1843,  or  their  journey  via 
Buffalo,  the  Lakes,  Chicago,  Davenport,  and  Burlington 
to  Denmark.1 

But  it  is  time  to  give  their  names.  In  the  order  of 
ages  they  were  :  Harvey  Adams,  Worcester,  Vt. ;  Edwin 
B.  Turner,  Monticello,  111. ;  Daniel  Lane,  Leeds,  Maine ; 
Erastus  Ripley,  Coventry,  Conn. ;  James  J.  Hill,  Phipps- 
burgh,  Maine;  Benjamin  A.  Spaulding,  Billerica,  Mass.; 
Alden  B.  Robbins,  Salem  ;  Horace  Hutchinson,  Sutton ; 
Ephraim  Adams,  New  Ipswich,  N.  H.;  Ebenezer  Alden, 
Jr.,  Randolph,  Mass.,  and  William  Salter,  New  York  City. 

"  Father  '  Turner,  as  Iowa  love  and  veneration  had  now 
come  to  call  him,  met  them  at  Burlington,  with  Den- 
mark teams,  the  mail  route  from  Denmark  running  to 
Fort  Madison.  With  Mr.  Gaylord  he  had  made  special 
explorations  in  order  to  advise  them.  Just  before  leaving 
Andover,  a  special  service  had  been  held  in  the  South 
Church  (September  3),  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon  preaching, 
Dr.  Milton  Badger  giving  a  charge,  and  Dr.  George  E. 
Pierce,  of  Western  Reserve  College,  Ohio,  offering  prayer. 
One  of  the  number,  Mr.  Hill,  was  left  behind  sick ;  another, 
Mr.  Ripley,  remained  at  Andover  as  "Abbot  Resident," 
and  William  B.  Hammond  had  left  the  Band,  which  was 
originally  twelve.      Mr.  Robbins   had   been    ordained   at 

1  At  Buffalo  a  union  home  missionary  meeting  was  held,  addressed  by  Messrs. 
Salter,  Robbins,  E.  Adams,  Hutchinson,  and  Lane,  and  Professor  Post  of  Illinois 
College. 


A  SO  TABLE  ACCESSION.  229 

Salem,  September  20,  and  Mr.  H.  Adams  at  Franklin,  a 
week  later.  Two  other  licentiates  joined  the  number  to 
be  ordained,1  making,  with  Messrs.  Turner,  Lane,  Spauld- 
ing,  Hutchinson,  E.  Adams,  Alden,  and  Salter,  nine 
present. 

Such  an  arrival  of  young  preachers  at  one  time  had 
never  before  occurred  in  a  Western  state  or  territory,  and 
such  a  day  in  the  Christian  history  of  Iowa  and  its 
ministry  had  never  been.  "  Such  an  one,"  wrote  Father 
Turner  in  1863,  "  as  I  had  never  expected  to  see  in  my 
life-time.  The  most  I  could  do  when  alone  was  to  weep 
tears  of  joy  and  return  thanks  to  God/' 

The  sermon  (on  Prerequisites  to  Success  in  the  Minis- 
try) was  preached  by  Mr.  Reed,  from  Acts  20 :  28 ;  the 
charge  was  by  Mr.  Charles  Burnham ;  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship  by  Mr.  Gaylord ;  the  ordaining  prayer  by 
Father  Turner.  A  signal  event  for  Denmark,  for  home 
missions,  and  for  Congregational  growth  in  Iowa.  u  It 
settled  the  question  of  our  denominational  life,  under 
God."  "On  Monday,  November  6,  three  teams  took  them 
on  their  way  to  their  several  fields  of  labor." 

Bound  up  with  the  question  of  ordination  on  the  ground 
had  been  the  question  of  denominational  relations  there. 
But  Father  Turner  had  scrupulously  passed  it  by  in  his 

JOne  of  these,  Charles  Granger,  who  had  been  in  Iowa  four  months,  was  a 
native  of  Randolph,  Vt.,  1806;  a  student  at  Andover,  1843;  stationed  at  Crawfords- 
ville  and  Washington,  1643-45;  at  Long  Creek  also,  1845-46;  Oregon,  Iowa,  1846-48; 
and  Paxton,  111.,  1857-60. 

William  A.  Thompson,  born  at  Holland,  Mass.;  graduated  at  New  York  (City) 
University,  1840;  studied  at  Yale  Seminary  and  Union,  N.  Y.;  stationed  at  Troy, 
Iowa,  1843-45;  at  Fairfield,  1845-50;  Port  Byron,  111.,  1850-52,  and  was  drowned 
near  Port  Byron,  May  3,  of  that  year. 

This  ordination  service  was  the  firot  act  of  the  old  Iowa  Association,  just  formed. 
There  is  a  tradition  of  a  bit  of  Yankee  humor  uttered  as  the  examination  closed, 
which  was  much  relished  by  Father  Turner.  The  Association  was  so  short  of 
men  that  the  "  charge  "  had  to  be  assigned  to  a  licentiate.  One  of  the  two  youngest 
candidates  said  that  he  "  did  n't  know  about  their  being  charged  by  a  brother  who 
wasn't  more  than  half-charged  himself." 


230  ASA    TUBNEB. 

letters.  Once,  at  the  last,  when  asked  directly  which 
polity  was  best  for  the  West,  he  answered :  "  The  Con- 
gregational the  world  over."  Once  he  wrote  in  a  general 
way  :  "  Come  on,  brethren,  come  with  the  spirit  of  your 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  plant  their  principles  in  this  rich  soil. 
DonH  be  ashamed  of  your  mother  as  soon  as  you  cross  the 
Alleghanies,  as  many  of  our  good  brethren  are,  and  even 
some  on  whom  she  has  put  honorary  titles.  The  principles 
of  church  government  planted  on  Plymouth  Rock  are,  in 
my  apprehension,  the  same  as  those  taught  by  the  Saviour 
and  his  apostles,  and  I  am  free  to  wish  they  might  spread 
over  this  Great  Valley."  He  did  not  know  that  they  were 
to  be  apprised  at  Buffalo  that  in  the  West  there  were 
"  none  but  Presbyterians  to  unite  with  ; '  and  at  Chicago 
advised  in  the  s^me  direction.  "  The  Home  Missionary 
Society  being  a  cooperative  body,  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty 
to  leave  all  to  their  choice."  At  Burlington  he  told  them 
that  "  if  they  wished  to  be  Presbyterians,  Presbytery  was 
to  meet  (at  Kossuth)  at  such  a  time  ;  if  Congregation- 
alists,  Association  would  meet  at  Denmark.  Till  after  their 
arrival  I  had  no  knowledge,  but  expected,  from  past 
experience,  that  most  —  if  not  all  —  would  apply  to  Pres- 
bytery. Congregationalists  were  known  as  radical  anti- 
slavery  men,  and  not  in  high  repute  among  their  own 
mother's  children."  On  the  ride  from  Burlington  one 
young  man  expressed  his  Congregational  preferences  and 
those  of  another.  (To  Mr.  Reed,  1863)  :  "  You  probably 
shared  my  surprise  when  we  found  them  all  at  Denmark, 
asking  to  be  set  apart  to  the  gospel  ministry  by  us."  On 
their  examination  the  evidence  that  they  had  been  taught 
little  of  church  polity  at  Andover  struck  him  ;  "  but  I 
remembered  the  past,  and  concluded  they  had  ability  to 
learn,  and  in  this  have  not  been  disappointed." 


XXVIII. 

THE  YOUNGER    CONTINGENT. 

Larger  Iowa  gatherings  now  of  sons  of  the  Pilgrims. 
Eight  meetings  of  the  old  Association  had  been  held, 
when  the  formation  of  the  Denmark  and  the  Northern 
Iowa  made  it  the  State  Association.  "  With  my  staff 
I  passed  over  this  Jordan,"  the  patriarch  could  say, 
"  and  now,  two  bands ! '  In  1845,  at  Muscatine,  the 
general  body  drew  to  its  sessions  a  dozen  ordained 
men ;  six  months  later,  at  Dubuque,  sixteen ;  next  year, 
at  Burlington,  twenty-one,  and,  for  the  first  time,  a  secre- 
tary of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions. 

In  1844-45  Rev.  J.  S.  Clark,  d.d.,  of  Boston,  declining 
to  succeed  Father  Turner  as  Home  Missionary  Superintend- 
ent, all  turned  to  Mr.  Reed,  whose  residence  was  removed 
to  Davenport.  Out  in  the  New  Purchase  the  counties 
were  receiving  two  hundred  settlers  a  month  each,  and 
large  exploration  was  needed. 

The  barest  outline  is  all  that  can  be  given  of  the  work 
of  the  eleven  from  Andover.  Father  Turner  appreciated 
it  fully :  "  I  can  not  doubt  that  they  were  called  of  God  to 
their  fields  as  really  as  Abraham  was  to  his.  Abraham 
saw  little  fruit  of  the  first  twenty-one  years  after  his  call, 
but  the  seed  planted  by  him  in  Palestine  is  now  growing 
in  Iowa." 

Profoundly  and  tenderly,  too,  he  appreciated  to  the  end 
of  life,  with  theirs,  the  work  of  the  choice  Christian  women 


232  ASA    TUBNEB. 

he  rejoiced  to  see  presiding  in  their  homes.1  Their  record 
also  is  on  high,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  usefulness 
of  their  husbands  has  been  their  usefulness.  But  even  to 
delineate  it  is  here  impossible.  The  outline  story  of  the 
Band  is  this  :  — 

(1)  Harvey  Adams  was  born  in  Alstead,  N.  H., 
January,  1809.  He  fitted  for  college  at  Montpelier, 
in  the  academy,  Rev.  J.  C.  Southmayd,  principal,  pursu- 
ing one  term  of  college  studies  also  with  him,  and  acting 
as  assistant  instructor.  Entering  the  University  of  Ver- 
mont in  the  spring  of  1836,  he  graduated  in  1839.  After 
one  year  at  Andover,  he  taught  a  select  school  at  Medway, 
Mass.,  1840-41,  and  then  studied  at  Andover  Seminary 
again  two  years.  In  Iowa  he  has  labored  in  five  com- 
munities :  at  Farmington,  twenty  years  ;  Council  Bluffs, 
three  ;  New  Hampton,  four ;  Fairfax,  four ;  and  Bo  wen's 
Prairie,  nearly  nine.  He  retired  from  the  active  ministry 
several  years  since,  but  has  occasionally  supplied  different 
pulpits,  residing  now  at  New  Hampton. 

(2)  Edwin  Bela  Turner  was  born  in  Great  Barrington, 
Mass.,  October,  1812.  He  was  apprentice  in  a  machine 
manufactory  till  his  conversion  at  the  age  of  sixteen, 
and  then  at  once  held  evangelistic  meetings  with  other 
young  men,  which  grew  into  a  prosperous  church.  He 
prepared  for  college  in  the  academy  at  Kinderhook,  N.  Y., 
whither  his  father,  a  well-known  temperance  lecturer,  had 
removed,  and  went  through  freshman  studies.  The  family 
removing  to  Godfrey,  111.,  he  entered  Illinois  College  as 
sophomore ;  graduated  in  1840,  and  entered  at  Andover. 
In  two  seminary  vacations  he  taught  a  select  school  at 

1Dr.  Tucker,  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  said  to  one  of  them  (Mrs.  E.  C.  Robbins) : 
•'You  are  crazy  to  go  off  West.  I  would  sooner  go  to  the  coast  of  Africa." 
Another  expressed  her  Christian  purpose  in  these  characteristic  words:  "It 
will  be  honor  enough  to  have  been  built  into  these  foundations  out  of  sight  " 
(Mrs.  S.  E.  Hill). 


Rev.  Harvey  Adams. 

(See  page  232.) 


THE    YOUNGER    CONTINGENT.  233 

Manchester,  N.  H.  To  his  seminary  class-mates  he  was 
quite  a  cyclopaedia  of  Western  information.  He  was  one 
of  two  who,  at  Denmark,  chose  northernmost  Iowa,  and 
for  eleven  years  had  Cascade  and  Colesburg  as  his  centers. 
Failing  health  sent  him  to  Morris,  111.,  for  a  ten  years' 
pastorate  ;  and  he  was  then  nearly  twelve  years  Home 
Missionary  Superintendent  in  Missouri.  Beginning  just 
before  the  end  of  the  Rebellion,  when  Missouri  had  but 
two  Congregational  churches  (at  St.  Louis  and  Hannibal), 
he  left  the  state  in  1876  with  seventy-one.  After  a  few 
months  in  Europe  he  supplied  the  churches  at  Oswego, 
Columbus,  and  Chenango  Forks,  N.  Y.,  till  1882,  and 
now  resides,  retired,  at  Owego,  N.  Y. 

(3)  Daniel  Lane  was  born  at  Leeds,  Maine,  March, 
1813.  His  ancestors  were  English  Puritans  from  Glouces- 
ter, England.1  At  Bridgton  Academy,  Maine,  he  prepared 
for  Bowdoin  College,  where  he  graduated  in  1838,  and  at 
once  became  teacher  of  modern  languages  and  English  in 
North  Yarmouth  Academy.  Two  years  later  he  entered 
Andover  Seminary.  At  the  Denmark  ordination  a 
Keosauqua  layman  chose  him  from  the  Band  as  his 
home  missionary  pastor,  and  at  that  place  he  remained 
ten  years,  teaching  also  a  classical  and  English  school. 
The  chair  of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy  in 
Iowa  College  was  meantime  offered  him  and  declined. 
In  1853  he  accepted  the  principalship  of  the  preparatory 
department,  to  which  was  soon  added  the  professorship  of 
mental  and  moral  science.  The  college  being  closed  in 
1858,  preparatory  to  removal,  he  taught  a  private  school 
at    Davenport    one    year,    and    another    at    Keosauqua 

1  He  often  asked  his  grandfather,  who  brought  him  up  from  childhood,  why  he 
prayed  constantly  for  a  revival,  since  it  never  came.  "  It  will  come  some  time, 
Daniel,  in  the  Lord's  best  time."  That  time  was  when  the  grandson  was  seventeen 
years  old,  and  he  was  one  of  the  first  of  those  converted,  of  whom  four  became 
ministers. 


234  ASA    TUBNEB. 

three  years.  He  was  then  four  years  acting  pastor  at 
Eddyville,  and  six  years  at  Belle  Plaine,  and  for  shorter 
periods  at  Eddyville  and  Keosauqua ;  but  since  1872  has 
been  without  charge,  sometimes  laboring  for  the  college, 
and  residing  at  Belle  Plaine,  at  Oskaloosa,  and  (now)  at 
South  Freeport,  Maine.  In  the  tasteful  new  church  at 
Keosauqua  is  an  oriel  memorial  window  bearing  his  name 
and  given  by  early  pupils  in  loving  and  venerating 
remembrance. 

(4)  Erastus  Ripley  was  born  at  Coventry,  Conn., 
March,  1815.  He  graduated  at  Union  College,  N.  Y.,  in 
1840,  and  entered  Andover  from  Union  Seminary,  New 
York  City.  He  remained  at  Andover  as  "  Abbot  Resi- 
dent '  till  the  autumn  of  1844,  when  he  became  home 
missionary  at  Bentonsport,  Iowa,  and  was  ordained  there 
April,  1845.  Three  years  later  he  was  chosen  to  the  first 
professorship  in  Iowa  College,  as  Carter  Professor  of 
Ancient  Languages,  which  he  held  till  the  removal.  He 
taught  at  New  Britain,  Conn.,  four  years,  and  died  in 
February,  1870,  at  Somers,  Conn.,  where  he  had  a  school 
for  young  ladies  five  years. 

(5)  James  Jeremiah  Hill  was  born  at  Phippsburgh, 
Maine,  May,  1815,  son  of  Judge  Mark  Langdon  Hill,  who 
filled  out  an  unexpired  term  of  United  States  senator 
from  Maine,  about  1820.  He  fitted  for  Bowdoin  College 
in  the  Bath  and  North  Bridgton  academies,  and  graduated 
1838  with  Dr.  Lane.  He  was  for  some  time  engaged  in 
teaching  and  in  the  work  of  the  American  Tract  Society, 
and  entered  at  Andover,  1840.  Sickness  and  his  father's 
death  detained  him  in  Maine  till  the  spring  of  1844.  He 
was  ordained,  April,  1844,  at  Phippsburgh. 

His  first  work  was  at  Jacksonville  (which  soon  became 
Garnavillo),  Clayton  County,  Iowa ;  then  at  Albany 
and  Savanna,  111. ;  then  at  Wapello,  Iowa,  Glencoe,  Minn., 


Rev.  E.  B.  Turner. 

(See  page  232.) 


THE   YOUNGER   CONTINGENT.  235 

and  Hutchinson  (where  his  choir  was  the  "  Hutchinson 
Family  ").  Exposure  in  that  climate  and  disease  drove 
him  back  to  Iowa,  and  from  Grinnell  for  some  years  he 
supplied  Indiantown,  Green  Mountain,  Genoa  Bluffs,  and 
then  removed  to  Fayette.  He  organized  a  number  of 
churches,  and  at  Garnavillo,  Savanna,  Glencoe,  and  Fay- 
ette built  houses  of  worship.  From  1865  to  1868  he 
acted  for  the  American  Missionary  Association  in  Iowa, 
Kansas,  and  Minnesota.  After  a  year's  painful  illness  at 
his  last  home,  Fayette,  he  died,  October,  1870,  of  cancer 
of  the  stomach,  and  his  remains  were  taken  to  Grinnell  for 
burial  beside  his  wife  and  son. 

(6)  Benjamin  Adams  Spaulding,  born  in  Billerica, 
Mass.,  July,  1815.  Converted  when  sixteen  years  old, 
he  gave  his  life  at  once  to  the  ministry.  At  Phillips 
Academy  he  prepared  for  Yale,  and  after  one  year  there 
entered  Harvard,  graduating  in  1840,  and  immediately 
entering  at  Andover.  He  chose  the  New  Purchase 
(opened  the  May  before),  about  and  beyond  the  Indian 
Agency,  for  his  field,  where  the  busy  city  of  Ottumwa  — 
then  a  group  of  twelve  log  buildings  and  two  frame  struct- 
ures —  and  other  towns  were  yet  to  be.1  An  evangelist, 
like  his  class-mates  in  the  extreme  North,  u  preaching  in 
groves  and  cabins,  and  organizing  churches  where  ten 
years  before  had  been  the  Indian  dance,"  he  wrote 
after  four  years :  "  Although  I  have  suffered  more  from 
sickness,  severe  toil,  and  privations  than  in  all  the  rest  of 
my  life,  I  have  enjoyed  more  real  happiness."  Of  con- 
sumptive tendencies,  his  zeal  was  a  lambent  but  intense 
flame.  He  longed  for  ten  more  years  in  which  to  "  do 
something."      Installed   April,    1851,  over  the  Ottumwa 

1 "  The  frail  dwellings,  beaten  trails,  and  newly-made  graves  of  the  Indians  still 
remained,  and  they  were  often  seen  carrying  away  corn  which  had  been  raised  on 
their  fields,  and  sometimes  lingering  about  their  old  hunting-grounds." 


236  ASA    TURXEB. 

church  which  he  had  gathered,  after  a  few  years  grow- 
ing feebleness  sent  him  north  to  minister  at  Eau  Claire, 
Wis.,  part  of  a  year.  For  many  months  he  awaited  death. 
His  sense  of  sin  was  peculiarly  pungent.  "  His  life  was 
gentle,  uncorrupt,  unassuming,  independent,  and  high- 
toned;  he  was  retiring,  unobtrusive."  He  died  at 
Ottumwa,  March,  1867.  In  Eau  Claire  church  is  a 
"  Spaulding  window,"  and  at  Ottumwa  a  "  Spaulding 
memorial  parsonage." 

(7)  Alden  Burrill  Robbins,  born  in  Salem,  Mass., 
February,  1817,  prepared  for  Harvard  at  Greenwich, 
N.  Y.,  Goshen,  Conn.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  Salem.  His 
confession  of  Christ,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  was  in 
a  church  in  Worcester  County,  resembling  some  wide- 
spread Western  churches,  —  that  of  "  Bolton,  Stow,  Lan- 
caster, and  Stirling,"  —  the  one  Orthodox  church,  Dr.  John 
W.  Chickering,  pastor.  He  graduated  at  Amherst,  1839, 
with  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs,  Bishop  F.  D.  Huntington,  and  Alden 
and  Hutchinson  of  the  Band.  Tutor  that  year  in  Hopkins 
Academy,  Hadley,  and  principal  of  Pawtucket  Academy, 
1840,  he  studied  at  Union  Seminary  one  year,  and  at 
Andover  two.  He  has  never  ministered  to  .any  other 
church  than  that  of  Bloomington,  now  Muscatine,  begin- 
ning in  1843,  and  continuing  now  to  the  forty-sixth  year. 
Not  an  uneventful  ministry,  however,  reckoning  by 
changes  of  population,  church  membership,  neighboring 
and  associated  ministers,  and  revivals,  and  by  hard  con- 
flicts with  pro-slavery,  saloons,  and  infidel  and  Popish 
influences.  His  church  was  long  known  as  "  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin."  Official  attendance  on  the  American- 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  Chicago 
Seminary,  Iowa  College,  Wilton  Academy,  and  commit- 
tees upon  the  American  Home  Missionar}r  Society  consti- 
tution and  a  new  creed,  have  taken  much  of  his  crowded 


Il 


Kkv.  Daniel  Lank. 

(See  page  888.) 


THE   YOUNGEB    CONTINGENT.  237 

time.  For  seventeen  years,  1847-64,  before  the  college 
had  a  president,  he  was  annually  elected  president  of  the 
trustees. 

(8)  Horace  Hutchinson  was  a  native  of  Sutton,  Mass., 
born  August,  1817,  and  graduated  at  Amherst  College  in 
1839.  He  was  then  tutor  in  Hopkins  Academy,  Hadley. 
After  ordination  he  preached  at  Burlington,  and  received 
a  call,  November,  1843.1  Every  thing  Christian  felt  at 
once  the  impulse  of  his  sanctified  enthusiasm  and  his 
kindling  powers  of  speech.  Otherwise  than  in  being  a 
consumptive,  he  was  physically  vigorous,  and  excelled  in 
athletics ;  but  in  little  more  than  two  years  death 
claimed  him,  and  he  was  the  first  of  the  eleven  to  go. 
Such  promise  and  ardor  in  his  sacred  calling  tested  faith 
and  submission,  when  the  Master's  will  became  apparent, 
and  not  in  vain.     He  died  at  Burlington,  March,  1846. 

(9)  Ephraim  Adams  was  born  at  New  Ipswich,  N.  H., 
February,  1818,  "  on  a  rocky  farm  at  the  end  of  the  road, 
between  two  hills ; '  converted  at  the  age  of  twelve ; 
fitted  for  college  at  Appleton  Academy  and  Phillips, 
Andover ;  was  one  of  fifty  who  left  Phillips  on  being 
forbidden  to  form  an  anti-slavery  society;  graduated  at 
Dartmouth,  1839;  taught  one  year  in  Petersburg  Classical 
Institute,  Virginia ;  then  entered  at  Andover  Seminary ; 
in  1843-44  preached  at  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa ;  from 
1844  to  1855,  at  Davenport ;  engaged  in  raising  funds  for 
Iowa  College  two  years;  1857-72,  pastor  at  Decorah; 
1872-82,  Superintendent  for  Home  Missions,  six  years  for 
Northern  Iowa,  succeeding  Dr.  Guernsey,  and  four  years 
for  the  state ;  after  another  service  for  the  college,  and  the 
Western  Collegiate  Society,  pastor  at  Eldora  from  1883  to 
the  present  writing.     For  three  years,  1844-47,  while  the 

1  Some  months  before  he  went  to  Burlington  it  had  "  1,800  inhabitants,  twenty- 
six  lawyers,  and  doctors  in  proportion,  but  no  Presbyterian  or  Congregational 
minister." 


238  ASA    TUBNEB. 

college  had  no  president,  he  was  annually  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  trustees.  "  Never  lost  an  appointment  by 
sickness  in  my  ministry ;  never  yet  sick   a  whole  day." 1 

(10)  Ebenezer  Alden,  Jr.,  was  born  at  Randolph, 
Mass.,  August,  1819 ;  descendant  of  John  Alden  "  and 
Priscilla,"  as  was  also  Daniel  Lane  (3).  He  prepared 
for  college  at  Randolph  Academy ;  graduated  at  Amherst, 
1839 ;  was  home  missionary  at  Tipton,  Iowa,  1843-48 ; 
supplied  several  pulpits  in  Massachusetts  till  1850,  when 
he  became  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational  Church, 
Marshfield,  Mass.  In  1852  one  of  his  parishioners,  Daniel 
Webster,  dying  there,  requested  that  the  pastor  whose 
ministry  he  attended  should  conduct  the  services  at  his 
funeral,  and  Mr.  Alden  accordingly  preached  the  states- 
man's funeral  sermon.  After  a  thirty-five  years'  pastor- 
ship, he  resigned  in  1885,  and  is  now  pastor  emeritus. 

(11)  William  Salter,  born  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  No- 
vember, 1821,  fitted  for  college  in  private  schools  and 
University  Grammar  School,  New  York  City ;  graduated 
at  New  York  University,  1840  ;  taught  summer  schools  at 
South  Norwalk,  Conn.,  and  Walden,  N.  Y.,  1840  and  1842  ; 
was  two  years  in  Union  Theological  Seminary,  and  one  at 
Andover ;  was  first  missionary  at  Springfield  (Forks  of 
the  Maquoketa),  and  just  before  Mr.  Hutchinson's  death 
called  to  Burlington.  In  his  first  quarter  he  visited 
"  nearly  all  the  settlements  in  the  county,  and  preached 
forty-six  sermons  in  sixteen  different  places."  His  pastor- 
ship is  now  the  second  longest  west  of  the  Mississippi  — 
forty-three  years,  ending  April,  1889. 

At  Andover  these  brethren  had  had  a  Tuesday  evening 
prayer-meeting  in  the  library.  No  lights  being  allowed, 
they  met  in  the  dark,  Mr.  Lane,  then  librarian,  placing 
chairs  for  them  in  the  first  alcove,  left  hand.     Their  plans 

i  MS.  Letter. 


Rev.  James  J.  Hill. 

(See  page  234.) 


THE    YOUNGER    CONTINGENT.  239 

and  doings  were  unknown  to  others.  "  The  last  meeting 
ever  held  at  which  all  were  together,"  says  Mr.  Adams,1 
"was  in  Father  Turner's  study,"  when  places  of  labor 
were  distributed  among  them.  They  "practically  dis- 
banded on  the  morning  of  November  6,  1843,  at  Den- 
mark," says  Mr.  Reed,2  "  when  [they]  departed  to  their 
several  fields  of  labor.  They  never  acted  as  a  band  in 
any  important  matter  after  that  day." 

It  is  probable  that  no  equal  number  of  young  ministers 
leaving  a  theological  seminary  together  ever  founded  so 
many  churches  in  five  or  ten  years  afterwards,  as  these 
men.  Their  predecessors  in  Iowa  had  led  the  way,  and  con- 
tinued to  do  so.  Mr.  Emerson  could  say,  in  1883,  that 
his  "  itinerant  work  enabled  [him]  to  lead  in  the  forma- 
tion of  not  less  than  twenty-five,"  not  all  Congregational. 

Father  Turner  wrote  Mr.  Reed  in  1863,  of  the  Band: 
"  I  have  never  been  disappointed  in  them.  I  have  reason 
for  gratitude  to  them  and  to  God  that  they  have  always 
treated  me  with  so  much  kindness  and  confidence,  and 
that  the  experience  of  twenty-one  years  has  led  me  to 
esteem  them  so  highly  in  love  for  their  work's  sake." 
"  These  then  young  men,  but  now  fathers,  in  connection 
with  their  co-laborers  of  other  denominations,  have  planted 
seeds  in  Iowa  which  we  trust  will  grow  and  bear  fruit  as 
long  as  our  nation  shall  live.  Atheism  and  Mormonism 
were  then  striving  to  get  possession  of  our  fair  territory 
(1843).  One  boasted  that  'Tom  Paine's  Age  of  Reason 
would  soon  take  the  place  of  the  Bible  in  all  the  families 
of  Iowa.'  Another  that  '  Mormonism  would  soon  rise  to 
the  sovereignty  in  Church  and  State.'  But  twenty-one 
years  have  left  scarcely  a  vestige  of  either." 

Two  of  the  younger  contingent  became  professors  in 

1Iowa  Band,  p.  37. 

2  Cong.  Iowa,  July,  1881. 


240  ASA   TUBNEB. 

the  institution  they  joined  their  predecessors  in  founding, 
Messrs.  Ripley  and  Lane.  Of  the  four  who  have  died, 
three  gave  themselves  much  to  revival  work,  and  the 
fourth  would  have  done  so  if  he  had  not  died  so  soon. 
Mr.  Ripley's  scholarly  tastes  did  not  promise  this  at  first. 
Mr.  Hill  surprised  his  early  friends  by  inclining  to  the 
work  of  an  evangelist.  Mr.  Spaulding  was  a  "ranger" 
after  almost  the  early  Methodist  type ;  traveling  on  horse- 
back "he  preached  in  about  thirty  different  places  of 
meeting,  some  of  them  one  hundred  miles  apart."  His 
first  communion  season  was  held  in  the  old  "  council 
house."  Here  "less  than  two  years  ago  savages  were 
sitting  and  lying  upon  the  floor,  smoking  their  pipes  and 
singing  their  songs ;  now  Christians  are  celebrating  the 
dying  love  of  their  Lord."  The  first  service  at  Eddyville 
of  this  cultured  young  man  was  held  in  an  Indian 
"  wike-up." 

Father  Turner  visited  them  as  widely  as  was  possible. 
Within  a  year  he  was  as  far  north  as  Jackson  County, 
where  Indian  lands  were  not  yet  in  market,  and  "there 
were  no  permanent  improvements,  nothing  but  cabins. 
He  held  a  three  days'  meeting  at  Andrew'  with  Mr. 
Salter,  "  won  the  attention  of  the  people,"  and  gave  warm 
sympathy  to  the  young  missionary,  imparting  "comfort 
and  strength." 

Before  his  own  active  ministry  ceased,  more  than  two 
hundred  others,  most  of  them  young,  had  joined  the  Iowa 
ministry,  his  paternal  and  winning  interest  in  whom  was 
expressed  in  cheering  and  moving  ways.  Up  to  1866 
almost  one  fifth  as  many  as  were  then  laboring  in  the 
state  had  died. 


Rev.  A.  B.  Robbins. 

(See  page  236.) 


XXIX. 

THE  FIRST   ACADEMY   AND   THE   FIRST   COLLEGE. 

For  one  who  had  u  thought  on  a  college  '  for  Illinois 
in  distant  New  Haven,  toiled  for  it  through  New  England, 
and  was  still  one  of  its  original  trustees,  it  was  natural  to 
think  of  another  as  the  "  best  thing  " — in  Mather's  phrase 
—  for  the  attractive  new  territory.  If  in  1836,  riding 
through  it  after  it  had  for  a  few  weeks  been  Wisconsin, 
with  another  Illinois  College  trustee  and  teacher,  the 
thought  passed  their  lips,  it  was  nothing  strange.  We 
have  no  record  of  this.  But  as  to  another  teacher  at 
Jacksonville,  we  have  some  information  at  first  hand. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  it  was  known  at  Denmark  or 
at  Andover  that  an  Iowa  Association  had  been  formed  at 
New  Haven,1  of  seven  theological  students,  nine  years 
after  the  old  Illinois  Association,  namely,  in  1837.  One 
of  them,  Reuben  Gaylord,  said  :  — 

"  It  is  our  purpose  to  establish  upon  a  firm  basis  a 
college  for  the  future  state  of  Iowa ;  also,  to  encourage 
and  assist  in  the  location  of  academies  throughout  the 
district,  and  to  lend  a  fostering  hand  to  the  general 
interests  of  education  in  the  common-school  department. 
We  shall  aim  to  secure  an  endowment  which  may  be 
worth  ten  years  hence  two  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
This  can  be  done  with  little  trouble  in  the  first  settle- 
ment of  a  country  where  land  is  cheap.  All  of  our 
number,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  are  going  there  to 
preach  the  gospel,  not  to  engage  in   educational   work, 

1  Known  as  Iowa  Educational  Association. 


242  ASA   TUBNEB. 

except  as  trustees  of  the  college  we  hope  to  build,  and 
to  advise  and  help  the  people  in  the  all-important  work  of 
a  thorough  education.  The  Home  Missionary  Board  smile 
upon  the  enterprise." 

A  pretty  large  undertaking  for  seven  students  of  1837 ! 
The  Illinois  movement,  however,  cheered  them.  Nine 
years  after,  three  of  them  had  resorted  to  Iowa,  Mr. 
Gay  lord  to  stay  —  J.  A.  Clark  and  J.  P.  Stewart,  for  a 
time.  The  last  had  been  nominal  trustee  of  another 
projected  college,  and  the  first  of  still  another,  eighteen 
years  younger  than  Illinois  College,  and  not  then 
dreamed  of,  which  was  the  first  founded  in  Iowa,  and 
whose  origin  was  quite  distinct  from  these  projects  upon 
paper. 

When  Mr.  Reed  followed  Father  Turner  and  Mr.  Gay- 
lord  to  Iowa,  it  was  quite  certain  that  the  oldest  of  the 
pioneers  should  broach  the  subject  to  him  as  to  one 
familiar  with  college  building  east  of  the  river.  He  did 
so  ;  the  first  authentic  mention  of  it.  "  It  must  have  been 
in  the  summer  of  1842,"  writes  the  junior  home  mis- 
sionary, "  that  Father  Turner  said  to  me,  ■  We  must  take 
steps  to  found  a  college,'  which  was  probably  the  first 
audible  expression  of  that  thought.  The  subject  was 
thenceforward  talked  over." 

That  autumn  the  (old)  Association  met  on  October  6r 
at  Brighton.  The  first  action  was  now  attempted  —  "  a 
committee  appointed  to  report  upon  the  expediency  of 
taking  the  incipient  steps  towards  the  foundation  of  a 
college  in  this  territory."  The  same  day  the  committee  re- 
ported "  that  a  discussion  of  the  subject  was  inexpedient," 
and  recommended  that  "  a  committee  be  appointed  to  cor- 
respond and  take  other  measures  which  may  be  neces- 
sary." A.  Turner,  H.  B.  Notson  (layman),  and  J.  A. 
Reed  were  appointed,  the  last  two  of  Fairfield. 


Rev.  Ephraim  Adams. 

(See  page  2! 7.) 


FIBST  ACADEMY  AND  FIBST  COLLEGE.  243 

This  was  the  first  "  incipient  step  "  towards  founding 
Iowa  College,  after  Mr.  Turner's  suggestion  the  summer 
before.  But  others  had  "  thought "  as  early  as  these 
brethren  in  Iowa,  though  not  in  just  the  same  way,  and 
had  taken  "incipient  steps"  earlier  —  though  the  result 
was  to  be  only  a  college  "  on  paper."  Among  the  laws 
of  Wisconsin  Territory,  1837-38,  was  one,  of  ten  sections 
(No.  94),  of  which  the  first  reads  thus  :  — 

"  Section  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Council  and  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  That  there 
shall  be  established  in  the  town  of  Denmark,  in  Des 
Moines  County,  a  college  for  the  purpose  of  educating 
youth,  the  style,  name,  and  title  whereof  shall  be,  '  The 
Philandrian  College  of  the  town  of  Denmark,'  which 
college  shall  be  under  the  direction  of  seven  trustees,  to 
wit,  Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter,  Samuel  Barrett,  James  P. 
Stuart,  Robert  A.  Leeper,  Timothy  Fox,  Lewis  Epps,  and 
A.  M.  Dixon."     "  Approved  January  19,  1838." 

The  Leeper  family  circle,  in  which  this  separate  enter- 
prise originated,  was  Scotch  Presbyterian,  —  "  psalm-sing- 
ing r:  variety, — and  settled  first  in  Bond  County,  111.; 
then  at  Jacksonville.  The  father  gave  largely  to  Illinois 
College,  and  influenced  its  location  there  in  place  of  Van- 
dalia.  Embarrassing  himself  by  paying  up  his  pledges  to 
it,  he  removed  to  Princeton,  and  built  there  grist  and  saw 
mills  and  a  carding-machine.  All  the  circle  became  at 
Jacksonville  zealous  for  manual  labor  colleges,  and  the 
proceeds  of  the  Princeton  property  were  to  make  the 
"  Philandrian  "  such  a  college  for  Iowa.  One  of  the  sons, 
with  Stewart,  a  brother-in-law,  explored  the  Black  Hawk 
Purchase,  and  selected  the  site  of  The  Haystack  for  it. 
The  father  dying  at  Princeton,  in  1836,  four  of  the 
brothers  went  to  the  future  Denmark  in  1837-38  to  build. 
J.    G.  Edwards  was    a  Jacksonville  friend,  and    was   to 


244  ASA    TURNER. 

remove  his  press  thither  to  aid  the  enterprise.  The 
Leepers  furnished  Mr.  Stewart  means  to  go  East  for 
twelve  young  men  or  more,  to  come  and  build  academies 
as  feeders  to  the  Philandrian,  preach,  start  churches,  etc.; 
also,  to  get  funds,  and  study  theology  at  Yale.  He  se- 
cured neither  money  nor  men.1 

Meantime  the  college  charter-  had  been  obtained  at 
Burlington,  probably  by  the  three  Denmark  trustees. 
The  other  four  were  Illinois  men  ;  Mr.  Porter  then  lived 
at  Peoria  ;  Mr.  Dixon  was  the  most  zealous  Presbyterian. 
At  the  same  session,  held  in  Burlington,  seventeen  insti- 
tutions for  Wisconsin,  under  the  names  of  academy, 
seminary,  college,  and  university,  were  chartered  by  the 
Territorial  Assembly,  and  located  severally  at  Green  Bay, 
Beloit,  Racine,  Monroe,  Dubuque,  Denmark,  Mineral 
Point,  Depere,  Fort  Madison,  West  Point,  Burlington, 
Cassville,  Mount  Pleasant,  Augusta,  Farmington,  Madi- 
son, Davenport  (manual  labor),  and  "town  69,  range  3, 
west,  Des  Moines  County." 

The  first  meeting  of  trustees  at  Denmark  was  to  be 
held  the  first  Monday  of  June,  1838.  But  before  this 
time  the  mills  at  Princeton  had  burned  down,  uninsured, 
and  the  church  at  Denmark  had  been  organized  (May), 
Congregational.  Probably  the  trustees,  who  were  Presby- 
terians, never  met  as  a  Board,  and  the  whole  enterprise 
was  abandoned. 

One  of  the  Leeper  sons  writes  :  "  Mr.  Turner  said, 
not  to  give  up :  if  they  could  not  have  the  college,  they 
would  have  the  academy.  They  made  a  success  of  it 
through  the  energy  of  Mr.  Turner." 

1How  much  theology  he  obtained  is  uncertain.  He  preached  at  Burlington 
(teaching  also)  and  at  Davenport  and  Stephenson,  at  the  latter  place  turning  Swe- 
denborgian,  and  dying  years  ago  at  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Dixon  was  later  home  mis- 
sionary and  principal  of  Platteville  Academy,  Wisconsin.  His  successors  at 
Platteville  were  the  writer  and  Dr.  J.  L.  Pickard,  of  Iowa  Slate  University. 


Rev.  Ebexkzer  Alden. 

(See  page  258.) 


FIBST  ACADEMY  AND  FIBST  COLLEGE.  245 

An  academy,  then,  was  to  precede  a  college  in  Iowa. 
If  in  its  stead,  the  "  Philandrian '  project  had  gone 
forward,  many  things  in  Iowa  would  have  been  different 
from  what  they  were  and  are. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  Mr.  Turner  conditioned  his 
coming  to  Denmark  upon  the  founding  of  the  academy. 
There  is  evidence  that  he  said,  "  There  might  as  well  not 
be  a  home  or  a  living  here,  as  no  institution  of  learning." 
A  town  proprietor,  not  then  a  Christian,  uttered  the 
common  feeling :  u  As  well  have  no  home  as  no  church 
and  no  school." 

First  settlers  in  a  territory  had  then  to  provide 
neighborhood  or  private  schools,  sustained  by  tuition. 
For  there  were  but  two  other  alternatives  —  teach  their 
own  children  at  home  or  see  them  grow  up  in  ignorance. 
The  first  neighborhood  school  was  taught  by  Berryman 
Jennings,  afterward  a  medical  student  and  a  trader  at 
Burlington,  who  died  recently  at  Oregon  City,  Oregon. 
"  I  was  residing,"  he  says,  "  on  the  Half-breed  Tract,  now 
part  of  Lee  County,  in  1830.  Dr.  Galland,  six  or  eight 
miles  above  Keokuk,  persuaded  me  to  teach  a  three 
months'  school.  It  began  at  '  Ah-wi-pe-tuck  '  (since 
Nashville  and  Galland)  in  October,  1830."  About  the 
time  it  closed  John  Robinson  opened  the  second  of 
Iowa  schools  at  "  Puck-a-she-tuck  '  (Keokuk).  These 
places  were  occupied  by  white  purchasers  of  half-breed 
claims,  before  lands  were  open  to  settlement.  In  1832-33 
Jesse  Creighton  taught  at  Keokuk.1  In  1833  a  soldier  at 
Fort  Madison  taught  a  school  for  the  United  States  troops. 
The  lands  outside  the  Half-breed  Tract  were  opened  next 
year. 

*He  was  a  shoemaker;  **  but  finding  it  difficult  to  support  himself,  owing  to  the 
custom  of  those  days  of  people  going  barefoot  in  summer  and  wearing  moccasins 
in  winter,  he  WW  induced  to  open  a  school."— Mist.  Address  at  Port  Madison, 
1675.  The  details  in  the  text  were  collected  before  The  Norm  il  Monthly  Souvenir 
was  issui-'i,  most  of  them  from  nearly  original  sources. 


246  ASA    TUBNEB. 

The  first  school-house  in  Iowa  was  built  of  logs,  where 
Burlington  now  is,  by  Dr.  W.  R.  Ross,  in  the  fall  of  1833. 
Next  spring  Zadoc  C.  Inghram  taught  in  it  sixteen  or 
eighteen  pupils.  The  second  school-house,  a  Methodist 
log  chapel,  was  built  at  Dubuque  in  November,  to  be 
"used  for  a  common  school  at  the  discretion  of  the 
trustees."  The  former  was  ten  feet  by  twelve  ;  the 
latter,  twenty  by  twenty-six  (estimated  cost,  $255). 
General  George  W.  Jones,  long  United  States  senator 
for  Iowa,  was  a  pupil  at  Burlington.  George  Cubbage 
and  Barrett  Whittemore  were  teachers  at  Dubuque.  In 
May,  1834,  the  first  lady  teacher  appeared  in  Iowa,  Mrs. 
Rebecca  Parmer,  near  Fort  Madison,  towards  Denmark. 
"The  house  a  small  cabin,  dirt  floor,  split  rails  for  seats." 
Two  years  later  three  ladies  taught  at  Dubuque,  two  of 
them  in  the  log  chapel.  In  1837  the  settlers  at  Denmark 
had  a  place  for  a  school,  and  Miss  Eliza  Houston  teacher, 
the  first  teacher  in  the  town. 

These  early  schools  —  multiplied  as  new-comers  planted 
themselves  near  enough  to  each  other  to  sustain  them  — 
increased  in  numbers  most  in  South-eastern  Iowa,  where 
settlements  and  churches  were  most  numerous.  As  late 
as  1844  "  more  than  two  thirds  of  the  population  resided 
south  of  the  Iowa  River."  Of  more  than  forty  teachers 
previous  to  1838  fourteen  were  ladies,  and  twenty-one 
were  in  the  two  early  counties  of  Des  Moines  and  Lee. 

There  is  this  record  in  the  Denmark  church  manual : 
"  It  was  the  design  of  the  pioneers  to  place  the  meeting- 
house and  the  school-house  side  by  side.  The  original 
proprietors  of  the  town,  Timothy  Fox,  Lewis  Epps, 
William  Brown,  and  Curtis  Shedd,  donated  an  undi- 
vided half  of  the  town-site  for  the  purpose  of  educa- 
tion." The  proceeds  of  this  yielded  the  first  stock  for 
an   academy.     The   first   private    school   in    Iowa    where 


Rev.  William  Salter. 

(See  page  238.) 


FIB  ST  ACADEMY  AND  FIBST  COLLEGE.  247 

higher  branches  were  taught  was  that  of  Hon.  Thomas 
H.  Benton,  Jr.,  at  Dubuque,  1839.  What  sort  of  a 
school  system  —  if  any  —  Iowa  was  to  have  was  then 
uncertain.  In  January  the  Legislature  had  passed  "  an 
act  providing  for  common  schools,"  and  a  year  later 
another  "to  establish  a  system  "  —  one  common  school  at 
least  in  each  county  being  contemplated.1  The  office  of 
superintendent  was  created  in  1841 ;  but  the  incumbent 
"had  no  duties  to  perform  except  to  draw  his  small 
salary." 

The  charter  of  Denmark  Academy  was  granted  by  the 
Territorial  Assembly,  February  3,  1843.  The  original 
trustees  were  Asa  Turner,  Jr.,  Reuben  Brackett,  Isaac 
Field,  Oliver  Brooks,  and  Hartwell  J.  Taylor.  They 
had  power  to  establish  "ordinances,  rules,  and  regula- 
tions," and  to  receive  an  income  not  exceeding  three 
thousand  dollars,  exclusive  of  tuition. 

They  organized  a  year  later,  February  23,  1844.  This 
academy  is,  therefore,  the  oldest  incorporated  literary 
institution  in  Iowa.2  Of  those  previously  chartered  in 
1838,  there  only  remain  the  names  in  the  Wisconsin 
laws. 

The  division  of  town-lots  to  promote  education  seems 
to  have  been  a  feature  of  the  "  Philandrian  '  plan.  One 
of  the  Leeper  brothers  —  still  living  at  Princeton,  111. 
—  states  as  to  the  land  outside  of  town,  that  on  that  plan 
it  "was  to  be  'claimed,'  one  half  for  the  college,  and 
entered   or  paid   for   by  money  [realized]   from  the  sale 

*It  was  not  till  1851  that  the  first  graded  school  was  taught  by  George  B. 
Dennison,  at  Muscatine.  The  same  town  has  ttie  honor  of  erecting  the  first 
frame  school  building,  1S40,  and  the  first  brick  ones,  1850. 

2  The  Iowa  Official  Register,  January  1, 1889,  suggests  that  the  State  University  is 
"perhaps  the  oldest  educational  institution  in  Iowa,"  lands  being  reserved  in  1840. 
"  Nothing  definite,  however,  was  accomplished  until  1855,  when  the  institution  was 
opened;  in  1856  re-organized  and  located  at  Iowa  City."  Denmark  Academy  was 
opened  ten  years  before,  and  Iowa  College  seven. 


\y 


248  ASA    TUBNEB, 

of  the  * town-lots.  This  land  was  to  be  held  for  the 
college.  The  Leeper  brothers  commenced  eleven  log 
cabins  south  and  west  to  hold  the  lands  until  the}r 
should  be  brought  into  market."  "Mr.  Stuart  while 
in  the  East  obtained  a  pledge  of  a  Boston  man  to  build 
twenty-four  houses  in  Denmark."  This  pledge  lapsed,  of 
course,  with  the  Philandrian  scheme. 

But  the  thought  that  had  occurred  to  these  men,  to  Mr. 
Gaylord  and  his  student  associates,  and  to  Mr.  Turner, 
was  to  live.  It  was  to  be  realized,  though  not  within 
sight  of  the  historic  "  Haystack."  Other  and  younger 
men,  meantime,  had  also  "  thought  on  a  college  "  for  Iowa. 
The  year  after  Mr.  Turner  had  suggested  it  to  Mr.  Reed, 
1843,  the  "Band"  (started  at  Andover  in  the  spring), 
contemplating  wishfully  and  wonderingly  their  future 
work  at  the  west,  self-moved  hit  upon  the  same  thought. 
"If  each  one  of  us  can  only  plant  one  good  permanent 
church,  and  all  together  build  a  college,  what  a  work 
that  would  be  ! '  So  said  one.  It  was  as  natural  a 
thought  (may  it  not  be  said,  as  providentially  inevitable  ?) 
as  those  which  came  to  young  men  at  Yale  in  1837  and 
1828. 

They  were  moving  on  the  while  in  Iowa.  The  first 
business  of  the  Association  at  Denmark,  April,  1843, 
was  the  report  of  the  committee  of  1842,  Mr.  Turner 
chairman,  as  to  correspondence  with  the  editor  of  The 
Congregational  Journal,  New  Hampshire.  The  committee 
was  continued  till  next  year.  Meantime  information  was 
received  of  an  entry  of  land  with  water-power  on  the 
Wapsipinecon  River  in  Buchanan  County,  by  a  Presby- 
terian layman  of  Keosauqua,  Mr.  W.  W.  Hadden,  which 
was  suggested  as  a  college  site.  The  plan  of  securing 
funds  and  colonists  from  the  East  was  broached.  In 
October,  before  the  ordination  of  the  Band,  two  of  the 


FIRST  ACADEMY  AND  FIRST  COLLEGE.  249 

Dumber,  W.  Salter  and  E.  B.  Turner,  exploring  from 
Burlington  to  Agency  City,  heard  of  all  this  at  Keosau- 
qua.  In  November,  at  Denmark,  the  Band  were  taken 
into  the  councils,  but  nothing  was  done.  The  convention 
movement  was  going  on. 

The  next  February,  Messrs.  Asa  Turner  and  D.  Lane 
were  providentially  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Reed,  in  Fairfield, 
and,  to  prevent  delay  and  loss  of  this  Buchanan  County 
site  by  movements  of  others,  the  three  called  a  meeting 
of  ministers  in  Southern  Iowa,  of  both  denominations, 
at  Denmark  the  next  month.  Rev.  J.  A.  Reed,  Seth 
Richards,  Esq.,  and  Jonas  Houghton,  Esq.,  were  made 
a  committee  to  examine  this  site  in  Buchanan  County, 
and  other  places.  Mr.  Reed  reported  favorably  to  the 
former  at  a  second  meeting,  Denmark,  April  16. 

To  this  meeting  all  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
ministers  were  invited.  Sixteen  were  present ;  four  others 
sent  approving  letters.  Voted  unanimously  "  to  adopt 
measures  preparatory  to  laying  the  foundation  of  a  col- 
legiate institution."  Of  those  present  eleven  were  Con- 
gregationalists  (six  of  these  belonging  to  the  Band)  and 
five  Presbyterians.  The  "Iowa  College  Association"  was 
at  once  organized,  and  its  executive  committee,  Messrs. 
Woods,  Reed,  and  Lane,  authorized  to  send  an  agent 
East.  Mr.  Turner  was  sent  as  the  most  influential,  each 
home  missionary  giving  him  a  draft  on  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society  for  ten  dollars  to  meet  his  ex- 
penses. He  visited  New  York,  New  Haven,  and  Boston, 
"  and  the  object  probably  would  have  been  accomplished," 
says  the  College  Records,  "  but  for  the  influence  of  those 
interested  in  the  society  just  formed  for  the  '  Promotion 
of  Collegiate  and  Theological  Education  at  the  West.' 

At  Boston,  May  28,  a  meeting  of  these  ministers  and 
laymen  was  held,  which  gave  an  elaborate  opinion  against 


250  ASA   TUBNEB. 

the  Iowa  plan.  Mr.  Turner  then  abandoned  it  and  re- 
turned home.  At  Brighton,  October  6,  the  College  As- 
sociation acquiesced.  The  college  was  to  be  located  and 
started  in  other  ways. 

A  committee  on  location  was  now  appointed,  Messrs. 
Turner  and  E.  Adams  (with  J.  M.  Boal,  who  left  the 
state  before  they  reported),  who  named  Davenport.  At 
a  meeting  held  there,  June,  1846,  this  was  unanimously 
approved,  on  condition  that  the  citizens  of  Davenport 
should  furnish  grounds  and  fifteen  hundred  dollars  for  a 
building.  The  members  of  the  Association  were  also  to 
raise  one  hundred  dollars  each  and  stimulate  general  con- 
tributions. One  of  them,  Rev.  James  J.  Hill,  observing 
that  the  time  had  come  to  give  as  well  as  consult,  had 
asked  the  privilege  of  being  the  first  donor  to  the  college, 
and  laid  a  silver  dollar  upon  the  chairman's  table. 

The  Davenport  subscriptions  not  being  sufficient,  other 
meetings  were  held  at  Denmark,  January,  1847,  and  at 
Burlington  in  June.  At  this  last  —  twenty-three  present, 
one  of  these  Presbyterian  —  the  Association  disbanded. 
It  had  fulfilled  its  end.  Twelve  trustees  had  been  named  to 
prepare  a  charter;  but  the  Territorial  Legislature  having 
passed  a  general  incorporation  law,  this  was  abandoned, 
and  suitable  articles,  with  fifteen  trustees,  were  substi- 
tuted. Thirteen  days  later  the  articles  were  recorded, 
and  the  first  Board  of  Trustees  met,  giving  Iowa  College 
legal  and  active  existence.  The  first  of  the  Articles  of 
Association  was  as  follows  :  — 

"  Be  it  known  to  all  whom  it  may  concern,  that  we, 
Asa  Turner,  Jr.,  Daniel  Lane,  John  C.  Holbrook,  Julius 
A.  Reed,  Harvey  Adams,  Reuben  Gaylord,  Alden  B. 
Robbins,  Ebenezer  Alden,  Jr.,  Ephraim  Adams,  William 
H.  Storr,  William  W.  Woods,  Gamaliel  C.  Beaman, 
Henry  Q.  Jennison,  James  McManus,  and  Charles  Atkin- 


FIBST  ACADEMY  AND  FIRST  COLLEGE.  251 

son,  do,  for  ourselves,  our  associates,  and  our  successors, 
adopt  the  following  Articles  of  Association." 

It  exemplifies  the  tendency  of  the  higher  education  to 
reproduce  itself  that  four  of  these  founders  were  educated 
at  Yale,  two  at  Amherst,  and  one  (each)  at  the  following 
colleges  :  —  Bowdoin,  University  of  Vermont,  Norwich 
(Military),  Vermont,  Dartmouth,  Union,  and  Maryville 
(Tennessee),  the  last  the  only  one  west  of  New  England 
and  New  York.  In  the  old  College  Association  still  other 
Eastern  institutions  were  represented:  Harvard  and  New 
York  University  among  them.  Iowa  College  is  thus  de- 
scended from  no  one  Eastern  college,  but  from  those  of 
New  England  at  large. 

Instruction  in  the  academy  at  Denmark  was  begun 
September,  1845,  by  Rev.  A.  A.  Sturges.  There  was  no 
academy  building,  the  old  historic  church  being  occupied. 
The  college  was  opened  at  Davenport,  November  1,  1848 
(at  almost  the  same  point  of  instruction,  preparatory),  by 
Rev.  Erastus  Ripley,  in  a  small  one-story  brick  building, 
between  Fifth  and  Seventh  Streets,  on  the  bluff  between 
Scott  and  Western  Avenues.  It  was  thirty-five  by  fifty 
feet;  the  north  half,  chapel,  the  south,  two  recitation- 
rooms,  with  hall  between.  It  is  now  a  two-story  dwell- 
ing.    In  1850  the  first  freshman  class  was  formed. 

And  so  the  first  academy  and  the  first  college  in  Iowa 
were  established  and  began  their  service  to  good  learning 
and  religion. 


XXX. 

MORE   WORK   AND   WORK   FOR   MORE. 

While  he  was  striving  to  obtain  more  workers  Father 
Turner's  people  had  moved  to  bind  their  minister  more 
closely  to  them.  Mindful  of  the  mistake  at  Quincy,  he 
assented  to  installation,  which  a  foreign  body  had  to  meet 
at  Denmark  to  accomplish.  Messrs.  Carter,  Kirby,  Reed, 
and  Morris,  of  the  Illinois  Association,  with  Deacon 
Nathan  Burton,  delegate,  held  a  meeting  to  consider  an 
organization  for  Iowa,  and  to  install  him.  Rev.  R.  Gay- 
lord  and  Charles  Burnham,  licentiate,  were  also  present. 
November  8,  1840,  is  thus  the  date  of  the  first  installation 
north  of  Missouri.  Mr.  Carter,  then  of  Jacksonville, 
preached.  No  stipulations  as  to  salary  or  vacations. 
Messrs.  Turner  and  Reed,  being  dismissed  from  Illinois, 
formed,  with  Messrs.  Gaylord  and  Burnham,  the  original 
Congregational  Association  of  Iowa,  afterward  divided. 

Eighteen  days  of  "protracted  meeting'  in  1842,  with 
three  prayer-meetings  a  week  for  months  previous.  Messrs. 
Reed,  Gaylord,  and  Clark  aided  in  this  second  Denmark 
revival.  Thirty-five  new  church  members  were  •  enrolled 
in  May.  But  two  unconverted  adults  in  the  congregation 
in  November,  with  two  or  three  lads,  and  the  pastor  began 
to  say :  "  I  must  go  from  home  to  convert  sinners." 

The  cheering  accessions  to  the  ministerial  force  in  the 
territory  lightened  his  heart  more  than  it  lessened  his 
labors.  He  had  more  men,  fields,  and  churches  to  care  for, 
more  letters  to  write  and  answer,  more  advice  to  give,  if 
not  more  journeys  to  take.     Yet  he  was  absent  for  months 


MORE    WORK  AND    WORK  FOR   MORE.  253 

the  next  year  on  agency  tours.  The  laymen  at  home 
proved  good  "  gap-men,"  reading  sermons  with  prayer  and 
song  on  the  Sabbath.  Early  in  1845  he  could  not  hold 
meetings  elsewhere ;  "  it  was  harvest  time '  at  home. 
Messrs.  Reed  and  Ripley  took  his  place  there  in  special 
work ;  all  summer  feeble  lungs  laid  him  aside,  and  he  did 
little.  Installations  in  Southern  Iowa  rejoiced  him  — at 
Fairfield  in  1844 ;  at  Bentonsport  and  Farmington  the 
next  year.  Mr.  Holbrook's,  at  Dubuque  (April,  1843), 
had  been  too  far  away  for  him  to  attend,  and  was  a  Wis- 
consin transaction.  The  previous  winter  the  first  revival 
in  that  energetic  place  had  saved  the  church  from  extinc- 
tion. The  new-comers  were  now  widely  scattered  and 
diligently  exploring  and  laying  foundations.  One  of 
them  uttered  the  feeling  of  all :  "  I  bless  the  Lord  for 
sending  me  here.  Not  a  moment  of  discontent  have  I 
had  —  not  a  tear  from  wishing  to  return  to  the  more  favored 
parts  of  Zion.  Let  me  hunt  up  the  sheep  of  the  wilder- 
ness. Never,  since  I  indulged  the  Christian's  hope,  have 
I  been  more  happy."  "Testimonies  to  their  industry, 
devotedness,  and  acceptableness  with  the  people,"  say 
the  secretaries,  "  are  of  a  highly  gratifying  character." * 
But  they  had  their  share  of  "  hardness."  New-comers 
found  pioneering  what  their  predecessors  had  found  it. 
Their  first  letters  contain  such  things  as  these :  "  Country 
settled  but  two  or  three  months ;  occasional  sight  of  an 
uncompleted  cabin,  destitute  of  all  conveniences ;  families 
staying  rather  than  living,  seen  about  as  well  from  the 
outside  as  by  going  into  the  hole  left  for  the  door." 
"People  well  supplied  with  pork  and  wheat,  and  little 
else."  "Many  men  who  have  large  farms  enclosed  can 
not  pay  postage  on  a  letter."  "  Not  half  can  pay  for  their 
land ;    not  a   pane  of  glass  in   their  cabins ;  neither  fire- 

1  Annual  Report,  May,  1844. 


254  ASA    TURNER. 

shovel,  tongs,  andirons,  nor  crane ;  and  almost  entirely 
destitute  of  furniture  of  any  kind."  Yet  the  preachers 
were  so  welcome  to  the  settlers  that  two  of  them  traveled 
nearly  two  hundred  miles  in  six  days  at  a  gross  expense  of 
fifty  cents  —  Messrs.  E.  B.  Turner  and  Salter.  No  wonder 
that  one  of  them  described  his  "  parish  visiting '  thus : 
"  I  borrowed  a  horse  sometimes,  and  sometimes  caught  a 
ride  with  others,  and  at  other  times  went  on  foot  from  one 
settlement  to  another,  and  preached  in  every  place  I 
visited."  Three  of  them  traveling  on  the  lower  Des 
Moines,  when  cabins  were  hotels  almost  as  much  as  any 
other  places,  had  occasion  to  stop  at  one  for  dinner.  They 
were  welcome,  of  course,  but  after  it  was  over  were 
invited  to  give  a  lift  in  raising  a  mill !  "  The  timbers 
were  heavy ;  the  majority  of  the  men  as  sallow  as  if  they 
had  been  colored  with  yellow  ochre  —  blended  with  this 
that  peculiar  blanching  which  nothing  but  the  ague  gives. 
I  really  felt  [and  he  was  one  of  the  smallest  of  the  Band] 
that  I  could  lift  as  much  as  half  a  dozen  of  these  men." 
In  Clayton  County  the  writer  spent  a  week  with  another, 
living  on  bear-meat  and  wild  honey ;  no  butter  —  no 
milk  —  no  pure  water.  Months  later  returning  home  in 
a  snow-storm,  the  missionary  there  lost  his  way,  and  after 
going  round  and  round,  returning  upon  his  tracks,  spent 
the  night  under  the  lea  of  his  wagon,  wrapped  in  his 
buffalo-robes.  On  awakening  the  next  morning  he  saw 
on  the  next  ridge  of  the  prairie  the  smoke  of  his  own 
chimney.  His  wife  —  a  genuine  heroine  —  had  passed  the 
three  days  of  his  absence  alone,  drawing  up  the  ladder 
after  her  into  the  unfinished  second  story  at  night.  Even 
the  outer  wooden  doors  expected  had  not  arrived  from 
Dubuque.  Yet  one  of  the  young  gospel  heralds  wrote 
to  the  office  at  New  York :  "  Scarce  a  single  appointment 
has  been  lost  by  any  one  of  us  through  ill-health  for  these 
nearly  eighteen  months  of  our  labor  here." 


MOBE   WOBK  AND   WOBK  FOB  MOBE.  255 

Thirty  years  later  Father  Turner  wrote  the  Denmark 
Association  :  "  Probably  I  have  known  more  about  perils 
by  bridgeless  streams  and  houseless  prairies,  and  log 
houses  and  pioneer  fare,  in  Illinois  and  Iowa,  than  almost 
any  one,  and  still  I  bless  God  I  had  the  privilege  thus  to 
do.  As  to  sacrifices  I  never  felt  I  had  made  any,  because 
I  wanted  to  do  the  work."  Mr.  Reed  (who  could  claim 
the  first  honors  of  frontier  travel  with  Father  Turner  and 
Mr.  Emerson)  gives  this  picture  :  — 

"  There  is  not  a  stream  in  Iowa,  north  and  east  of  Cedar  Falls, 
or  south  of  Cedar  Falls  and  east  of  Des  Moines,  that  has  not  been 
forded  by  one  or  more  of  these  pioneers,  and  some  of  the  largest 
at  many  different  points.  Sometimes  they  drove  their  horses 
through  the  creeks  and  caught  them  as  they  came  out,  crossing 
themselves  on  logs ;  sometimes  they  swam  their  horses  by  the  side 
of  a  canoe,  sometimes  took  their  buggies  across  large  streams, 
piecemeal,  in  skiffs.  Father  Turner  once  swam  the  creeks  between 
Farmington  and  Denmark,  with  his  horse  and  buggy,  though  he 
could  not  swim  a  stroke  himself.  It  was  hard  for  him  to  stop 
when  he  had  once  started.  Notwithstanding  this  condition  of  the 
streams  and  roads,  not  one  of  these  pioneers  ever  met  with  serious 
loss  or  with  serious  personal  injury  in  traveling  within  the  state. 
True  there  were  accidents,  some  ludicrous,  some  serious,  and  some 
narrow  escapes.  You  may  imagine  a  man  emerging  from  a  miry 
slough,  his  buggy  stuck  fast,  his  harness  buried  in  the  mud,  him- 
self without  coat  or  vest,  barefoot,  splashed  with  mud,  holding  his 
horse  by  the  reinless  headstall,  the  horse  white  in  its  normal  con- 
dition, but  now  with  only  his  head  white  and  a  narrow  strip  along 
his  back,  the  man  trying  to  get  the  attention  of  his  horse  to  the 
nice  grass  growing  at  his  feet,  with  the  hope  that  he  may  go  for 
his  halter  and  return  before  the  horse  discovers  that  he  is  free,  but 
taking  only  a  step,  when  the  horse  throws  up  his  head,  takes 
a  startled  look  to  the  right  and  left,  and  dashes  at  full  speed  over 
the  ridge  out  of  sight,  leaving  his  master  with  his  arms  akimbo, 
and  looking  wistfully  in  the  direction  which  his  horse  has  taken. 

"  Brothers  Turner  and  Gay  lord  mistook  the  directions  given 
them  in  fording  the  Iowa  at  Wapello,  and  were  getting  into  deep 
water,  when  they  were   discovered  and  set  right  just  in  time. 


256  ASA   TUBNEB. 

Brother  Lane  had  a  narrow  escape  in  the  ice  at  Keosauqua; 
Brother  Emerson  spent  a  night  on  the  prairie  with  his  saddle 
for  his  pillow,  and  did  not  find  a  house  until  eleven  o'clock  the 
next  day.  Brother  Ripley  was  carried  over  the  dam  at  Bentons- 
port.  When  he  saw  that  it  must  be,  he  threw  off  his  coat  and 
boots,  headed  his  skiff  for  the  dam,  gave  it  all  the  headway  that  he 
could  with  a  single  oar,  and  as  its  bow  projected  over  the  brink,  he 
sprang  forward,  dived  beyond  the  undertow  and  swam  ashore. 
One  was  crossing  the  Cedar  at  the  mill  three  miles  south-west  of 
Fairfield.  It  had  not  been  discovered  that  the  freshet  then  subsid- 
ing had  left  the  bank  perpendicular  below  the  surface  of  the 
water.  He  was  thrown  upon  his  horse,  which  in  its  fright  sprang 
forward  and  dropped  him  behind  the  crossbar,  with  his  arms  across 
the  shafts,  and  started  down  the  creek  upon  a  gallop ;  the  water 
was  too  deep  for  any  thing  more.  At  each  jump  the  horse's  hind 
feet  came  up  before  his  face  a  foot  away.  This  was  forty  years 
ago,  but  he  remembers  well  just  how  they  looked." 

It  has  been  said  more  than  once  with  truth  that  in  those 
days  Denmark  was  the  Mecca  to  which  tended  all  Congre- 
gational feet  that  pressed  the  soil  of  Iowa.  But  it  is  quite 
as  true  that  here  the  younger  frontiersmen  of  the  gospel 
learned  of  wise,  unflagging,  affectionate  pastoral  toil  and 
of  the  constant  divine  blessing  upon  it.  In  the  winter  of 
1845,  spiritual  interest  again,  but  the  pastor  was  disabled 
by  weak  lungs  once  more.  In  July,  1846,  a  brick  church 
was  dedicated  which  cost  four  thousand  dollars,  of  which 
only  thirty  dollars  came  from  abroad.  In  the  previous 
January  one  had  been  dedicated  at  Dubuque,  in  the  face 
of  greater  obstacles,  which  cost  three  thousand  dollars,  — 
of  which  twenty-five  hundred  was  raised  by  the  ladies, 
—  and  friends  in  Boston  and  Hartford,  Conn.,  afforded 
welcome  help;  in  the  December  following  one  was  built 
at  Burlington,  costing  six  thousand  dollars  —  friends  at 
the  East  contributing  eight  hundred  dollars.  These 
edifices  were  large  and  costly  for  the  times  —  one  of 
them  forty  feet  by  sixty-three  ;  another  forty  by  fifty-six  ; 


MORE   WORK  AXD    WORK  FOR  MORE.  257 

and  the  third  forty  by  sixty.  The  winter  following,  a 
score  of  youth  at  Denmark  were  spiritually  awakened. 
That  year  the  twenty-eight  missionaries  who  occupied  the 
pulpits  of  thirty-nine  churches  saw  ten  humbler  sanctu- 
aries built  and  began  to  hear  in  them  the  inquiry  :  "  What 
must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  The  Denmark  Zion  was  the 
model  and  delight  of  all.     No  need  there  to  sing :  — 

"  Let  strangers  walk  around 
The  city  where  we  dwell, 
Compass  and  view  Thine  holy  ground, 
And  mark  the  building  well." 

It  was  a  privilege  to  pass  a  Sabbath  there,  to  be  coveted 
by  all  laymen,  and  an  honor  to  any  minister  to  preach 
in  the  pulpit.  All  made  "a  fair  report."  One  of  the 
oldest  pioneers,  with  preaching  places  enough  in  Northern 
Iowa  for  three  or  four  men,  remembers  to  record  that  a 
Sabbath  as  late  as  1859  was  "  the  first  and  only  that  he 
ever  occupied  that  pulpit." 

Four  months  after  the  dedication  he  whose  "  throne  " 
it  was  had  the  joy  of  writing  the  American  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  that  Denmark  would  receive  no  more  aid 
from  the  East.  It  had  received  $266.66,  in  all.  His 
home  support  had  been  two  hundred  dollars  per  annum  — 
the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  paying  as  much 
more.  But  "  self-support "  left  him  on  a  salary  of  three 
hundred  dollars,  "poorly  paid."  Erelong  he  was  compelled 
to  borrow  money  for  family  expenses,  and,  imagining  that 
dissatisfaction  with  his  ministry  caused  a  year's  arrearage, 
he  offered  his  resignation.1  A  request  to  remain  so  hearty 
that  there  were  but  two  votes  against  it  convinced  him 
that  he  was  mistaken.  His  salary  was  secured  in  those 
days  by  apportionment  on  individuals  according  to  county 

1  "Caused  by  sin  of  omission,  not  intentional,  but  equal  to  a  sin  of  commission 
in  its  effects  on  me."  —  Letter. 


258       '  ASA   TUBNEE. 

assessment  of  property,  made  by  a  church  committee  — 
a  plan  ideally  good  for  a  community  of  angels.  Arrear- 
ages being  paid  up,  he  was  to  really  have  three  hundred 
dollars,  and  one  hundred  more  when  church  and  academy 
erection  was  done  with.  Twenty  years  after  his  settle- 
ment the  salary  was  six  hundred  dollars.  He  could  never 
have  lived  and  labored  but  for  the  produce  of  his  land. 
He  always  placed  Christian  benevolence  above  his  own 
needs.  Up  to  1868  —  that  is,  for  nearly  thirty  years  — 
the  church  gave  more  to  benevolent  objects  than  any 
other  Congregational  church  in  Iowa.  "  From  1848  to 
1887  —  one  year  being  omitted  —  the  annual  average 
was  $482.59 ;  the  total,  $19,725.30 ; "  besides  twice  build- 
ing the  church  and  expending  fourteen  thousand  dollars 
on  the  academy ;  in  all,  $22,500,  an  average  of  $562.50. 
No  large  town  growth  in  these  years,  no  manufactures, 
the  village  a  small  rural  one,  remote  from  river  and  rail- 
road, depending  upon  farm  labor  and  farm  products.1 

When  funds  were  lacking  to  complete  the  church 
edifice,  —  though  all  were  denying  themselves  to  help  it 
on,  —  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town  determined  that  it 
"  should  be  completed  if  it  took  his  farm."  When  work 
on  the  academy  building  was  hindered  in  the  same  way, 
one  of  the  trustees  replied  to  his  pastor's  urgency :  "  We 
have  given  till  we  can  give  no  more.  This  is  the  best 
coat  I  have  in  the  world,  and  it  is  not  fit  to  wear  to 
church.  You  must  give  us  a  rest,  and  let  us  do  something 
for  ourselves."     The  pastor  desisted : 2  but  was  his  expe- 

1 A  deacon  still  living  peddled  vegetables  and  wood  in  Fort  Madison,  getting  pay 
not  in  money,  but  in  orders  on  stores  and  in  labor  making  doors  and  windows  to 
be  sold  to  his  neighbors  —  with  a  very  little  cash  "  to  balance." 

2  Accustomed  as  he  was  to  prevail  with  his  people,  he  never  aimed  at  omnipotence. 
During  the  Mexican  War  he  urged  upon  them  something  they  did  not  wish  to  do. 
Giving  it  up  with  an  almost  admiring  smile,  he  said  in  the  pleasant  tone  they  had 
learned  to  associate  with  insight  and  shrewdness :  "  If  General  Taylor's  troops 
were  like  my  church,  I  don't  wonder  he  conquered." 


MOBE   WOBK  AND    WOBK  FOB  MOBE.  259 

rience  a  common  one  ?  Erelong  the  people  showed  how 
well  they  could  care  for  home  needs,  and  after  1853  did 
so  with  ease. 

There  were  now  sixty-nine  families  in  the  congregation, 
in  fifty-three  of  which  both  husband  and  wife  belonged  to 
the  church,  while  in  others  one  was  a  church  member, 
and  in  only  three  families  neither.  The  whole  church 
membership  was  one  hundred  and  ninety-one. 


,  /  XXXI. 


STEADY   PROGRESS    IN    IOWA. 

From  such  a  people,  cherishing  such  institutions,  minis- 
ters, teachers,  missionaries,  and  other  Christian  workers 
were  sure  to  be  sent  forth.  Besides  those  from  the 
academy  whose  homes  were  elsewhere,  one  of  purely 
home  production  deserves  special  mention. 

Among  the  converts  received  in  1846  had  been  one 
who  became  a  frontier  evangelist  of  a  unique  stamp. 
Some  time  in  Father  Turner's  first  year  there  came  to  the 
little  settlement  a  sailor,  born  near  Plymouth  Rock,  who 
had  been  two  years  in  a  harness-shop  —  till  seventeen 
years  old  —  and  then  eight  years  at  sea.  While  a  boy 
he  had  decided  that  he  could  not  believe  that  the  Bible 
is  a  revelation,  or  that  there  is  a  God.  On  a  return 
from  Iowa  to  Massachusetts  (taking  passage  from  New- 
Orleans)  in  a  terrific  storm  at  sea,  all  hope  of  outriding  it 
was  given  up.  "  He  lashed  himself  to  his  chest,"  says 
Father  Turner,  in  a  manuscript  sketch  unpublished,  "  and 
promised  God  —  if  he  would  spare  him  —  that  he  would 
serve  him.  He  was  spared,  and  sent  word  of  his  vow  to 
me  through  his  friends."  But  on  returning  to  Denmark, 
he  had  apparently  forgotten  it.  He  married,  and  settled 
down  in  life  without  God.  "  He  loved  a  sailor's  life  and 
a  sailor's  vices,  and  was  bound  to  have  a  good  time  in  the 
world." 

One  rainy  summer  Sunday  in  1845,  this  unrenewed  son 
of  ocean  strayed  into  church.  The  subject  of  discourse 
was  prayer  as  the  duty  of  Christians  ;  but  the  pastor  was 


STEADY  PBOGBESS  IN  IOWA.  261 

moved  on  the  spot  to  press  it  as  a  duty  upon  the  uncon- 
verted. Without  hesitation  he  declared:  "The  man  who 
swears  is  as  much  under  obligation  to  pray  as  the  man 
who  preaches  :  he  needs  the  influence  of  prayer,  and  God 
is  ready  to  hear  him  through  Christ." 

To  the  sailor-farmer  his  heavenly  Father  hitherto  had 
been,  as  he  said,  "  as  invisible  as  the  wake  of  the  ship  on 
which  he  sailed."  He  went  home  saying  to  himself, 
"  Strange  doctrine  to-day !  Such  a  sinner  as  I  am,  who 
don't  know  that  there  is  a  God  to  pray  to  ;  such  as  I  — 
pray?  Well,  if  there  is  no  God,  it  will  only  be  empty 
breath,  and  will  do  no  hurt;  if  there  is  one,  it  may  do 
good."  Entering  his  home  he  took  down  his  Bible  and 
said  to  his  wife  :  "  I  am  going  to  set  up  family  prayer." 
He  read  a  chapter,  knelt,  and  prayed,  and  did  so  for  six 
or  eight  weeks  till  light  came.  That  God  is,  and  answers 
those  who  diligently  seek  him,  he  became  thoroughly  per- 
suaded, and  "prayed  himself  into  the  kingdom."  This 
was  Joseph  C.  Cooper. 

As  a  member  of  the  church,  he  grew  in  grace,  and  in 
1848  became  a  colporter  of  the  American  Tract  Society, 
for  Southern  Iowa,  laboring  two  years.  He  was  specially 
successful  with  skeptics,  hand  to  hand,  and  every  way  "  a 
patient,  earnest,  and  efficient  laborer." 

After  a  period  of  darkness  of  mind  in  1852,  in  which 
the  church  prayed  constantly  for  him,  till  he  emerged  into 
light,  he  went  to  Father  Turner  with  the  feeling :  "  Woe 
is  me,  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel."  u  His  school  education 
was  limited,  but  he  had  naturally  a  clear,  discerning 
mind  and  a  good  memory.  His  training  as  a  colporter 
had  done  something  for  him.  His  spirit  was  kind  and 
winning.  He  had  learned  to  make  use  of  his  sea-life  in 
illustrations.  He  had  a  wife  and  one  or  two  children, 
and   about    as   much    property   as    Elijah   had    when    the 


262  ASA    TURNER. 

ravens  fed  him.  He  studied  theology  in  his  little  home, 
from  March  till  August,  when  I  went  East,"  writes  Father 
Turner,  "  and  left  him  to  supply  my  place  till  October. 
And  though  he  had  lived  among  the  people  as  an  unbe- 
liever, and  they  knew  all  about  him,  they  were  entirely 
satisfied  with  his  ministrations,  and  from  that  day  till  his 
death  no  one  was  more  heartily  welcomed  into  the  Den- 
mark pulpit.1 

"  He  was  always  in  all  places  at  work.  In  1865,  at  the 
National  Council  in  Boston,  T  agreed  to  meet  him  at  nine 
p.m.  at  a  given  place,  and  go  to  his  lodgings.  I  found 
him  in  the  street,  earnestly  pleading  with  a  sinner  to  bring 
him  to  Christ.  His  mind  was  entirely  given  to  this  one 
thing.  Kevivals  were  his  delight,  though  he  seemed 
instinctively  to  labor  for  the  conversion  of  all  he  met,  in 
all  circumstances,  at  all  times.  In  1856  he  went  to  Fair- 
field, an  unassuming  man,  poorly  clad,  but  burning  with 
zeal.  For  three  weeks  he  preached  with  his  peculiar 
earnestness,  and  visited  from  house  to  house  ;  liquor  shops 
were  closed  ;  barrels  of  whiskey  rolled  into  the  street  and 
their  heads  knocked  in  by  the  evangelist;  while  he 
preached  to  the  crowd  of  righteousness,  temperance,  and 
judgment  to  come."  It  is  hard  for  one  who  once  preached 
a  few  days  in  a  work  of  grace  with  "  the  sailor-preacher  "  to 
copy  these  details  without  recording  his  own  affectionate 
remembrance  and  gratitude  for  what  he  was  and  did. 

"  Such  a  man's  early  habits  cling  to  him.  To  shut  him 
up  in  a  study  to  make  sermons  would  kill  him  in  a  little 

1  The  fear  was  once  expressed  at  New  York  that  "our  brethren  in  Iowa  will 
resort  to  the  doubtful  expedient  of  putting  into  the  ministry  laborers  who  have  not 
been  educated  for  the  work.  Other  denominations  pre-occupy  the  ground;  thus, 
to  use  the  illustration  of  a  friend,  '  they/eed  the  people;  and  if  they  have  no  fine 
flour  they  take  corn;  and  if  this  be  not  ground,  they  pound  it  in  a  mortar.' 
This  sounds  like  Turner  or  Emerson"  (H.  M.  July,  1843).  But  Father  Turner 
always  regarded  Mr.  Cooper  as  well  educated  for  his  work.  If  ever  impatient  on 
this  subject,  it  was  when  people  seemed  to  him  to  be  "  civilized  to  death." 


STEADY  PROGRESS  IX  IOWA.  263 


while;  but  turn  him  out  with  his  old  horse  or  on  foot, 
among  the  people,  and  before  he  was  aware  he  would  have 
a  sermon  made. 

"  He  once  said :  '  I  never  saw  a  place  in  my  life  I 
wanted  to  stay  in  more  than  three  weeks.'  He  built 
up  a  church  in  Salem,  a  place  of  worship,  a  home,  and 
when  the  people  most  wanted  him  to  stay,  felt  he  must  go. 
His  life  was  given  to  small  and  weak  churches.  The 
•destitute  drew  on  his  sympathies.  He  felt  free  among 
them." 

He  was  singularly  forgetful  of  his  own  interests  and 
wants.  More  than  once  his  pastor  had  to  suggest  to 
others  in  well-to-do  places  where  he  was  pouring  out  his 
soul  and  casting  a  strong  and  peculiar  light  on  the  way  of 
salvation  :  "  Remember  that  he  has  but  little  more  to  live 
on  than  the  Lord  gave  him  at  his  birth,  save  faith  in 
Christ  and  a  wife  and  two  children.  He  had  no  financial 
ability,  and  little  common-sense  in  temporal  things,  though 
his  judgment  in  religion  so  commended  itself  to  men  as  to 
account  for  much  of  his  success.  He  said  to  me  once  that 
he  could  not  take  care  of  himself,  and  '  did  not  know 
what  God  made  such  a  creature  for.'  In  one  place  where 
he  preached  a  debt  rested  on  the  little  house  of  worship. 
It  was  due.  He  sold  his  horse  and  buggy  and  paid  it,  and 
went  on  foot."     He  could  deny  himself,  at  least. 

Many  saved  souls  know  now  "  what  God  made  such  a 
creature  for,"  and  why  he  put  those  words  about  a  sin- 
ner's duty  to  pray  into  Father  Turner's  lips.  Mr.  Cooper 
was  not  intentionally  peculiar  ;  did  not  strive  to  say  fresh, 
pungent,  bright  things.  All  was  spontaneous.  "  A  chosen 
vessel  of  God  as  really  as  Paul,"  said  one.  He  was 
ordained,  1853  ;  died,  1872.  "  In  his  last  sickness  his 
language  was  almost  that  of  inspiration." 

The    home    church   in   these   years   was   increasing   in 


264  ASA    TURXEE. 

numbers  and  moral  power.  In  its  first  nineteen  years, 
seven  notable  revivals  occurred,  besides  other  periods  of 
special  interest.  Four  hundred  and  seven  persons  were 
received  in  all  —  the  largest  annual  number  being  forty- 
five,  in  1850.  Of  these,  twenty-eight  came  in  by  pro- 
fession, fruits  of  a  previous  revival,  in  which  three  of  the 
pastor's  children,  three  of  pioneers  of  1836,  and  a  number 
of  others  who  were  children  of  the  converts  of  1839  were 
converted.  Every  year  the  hearts  of  other  persons  were 
reached  who  did  not  confess  Christ. 

Father  Turner's  people  were  never  demonstrative.  A 
preacher  in  an  early  revival  says :  "  Most  of  them  were 
accustomed  to  listen  with  closed  eyes.  Like  the  Yankees 
of  that  day,  they  had  been  taught  to  suppress  their  feel- 
ings. But  their  anxiety  for  the  salvation  of  their  children 
and  neighbors  could  not  be  covered  up.  There  they  sat 
with  eyes  closed  and  tears  stealing  down  their  cheeks." 

Their  judgment  and  spiritual  discernment  were  sound. 
An  adventurer  came  to  Denmark  in  February,  1859, 
without  invitation,  and  "  led,  as  he  thought,  by  the  Spirit 
of  God."  His  sensational  ways  in  preaching  and  other- 
wise made  an  impression,  but  were  disapproved.  "  I  am 
always  fearful  about  men,"  said  the  pastor,  "  who  know 
they  are  right  in  all  things  —  know  they  are  led  by  the 
Spirit.  He  could  not  work  with  me,  he  says.  His  leaving 
produced  a  good  deal  of  injury  for  the  time,  but  I  hope 
we  are  getting  over  it."  His  after  history  gave  point  to 
the  remark  of  another :  "  This  church  deserves  credit  for 
seeing  through  that  man." 

Some  extracts  from  the  pastor's  anniversary  sermons, 
copied  into  the  minutes  by  the  careful  church  clerk,  with 
a  few  letters,  disclose  incidents  of  these  progressive  and 
fruitful  years. 

Sermon  of  1855 :    "  During  fifteen  years  divine  service 


STEADY  PROGRESS  IN  IOWA.  265 

three  times  a  day,  and  Sabbath-school  in  the  intermission, 
has  been  discontinued  but  one  Sabbath.  No  deaths  this 
year.  All  church  expenses  paid,  and  four  hundred 
dollars  given  to  benevolent  objects.  Five  of  our  youth 
are  connected  with  our  infant  college  at  Davenport. 

"I  remember  the  time,  and  many  of  you  do,  when  we 
scarcely  had  a  shelter  for  man  or  beast,  and  scarcely  an 
implement  of  husbandry  that  we  should  now  regard  fit 
for  use,  and  the  whole  settlement  had  to  go  to  one  place, 
if  not  to  the  Philistines,  to  grind  an  axe.  The  Lord  has 
helped  us  to  houses  and  barns  and  fields  and  orchards  all 
filled  and  covered  and  loaded." 

In  declining  years  he  wrote  a  sister  of  the  church  in 
comfortable  circumstances  :  "  I  well  remember  when  your 
house  bounded  the  settlement  in  sight  on  the  west,  —  and 
you  had  an  extravagant  one  too,  —  a  frame  covered  with 
split  boards,  no  barn  or  outbuildings,  and  your  husband 
used  to  hang  his  harness  on  the  yard  fence.  He  and  you 
were  young  and  strong,  and  looked  forward  with  hope. 
Well,  labor,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  has  changed  all 
the  surroundings,  and  the  whole  country  about  has  been 
subdued  and  fitted  for  the  wants  of  civilized  man." 

In  April,  1853,  having  changed  his  mind  as  to  the 
proper  relations  of  a  minister  to  his  church,  he  was 
received  into  membership  from  the  Yale  College  Church. 
Mrs.  Turner  had  been  received  in  April,  1839,  from 
Quincy. 

Great  care  was  always  taken  to  secure  equal  religious 
privileges  to  academy  students  with  those  afforded  the 
children  of  families.  Though  the  latter  were  increasing, 
as  well  as  the  former,  a  generous  reservation  of  church 
slips  from  rental  was  made  annually  for  the  young  people 
from  abroad.  This  was  but  one  way  of  many  in  which 
the  true-hearted  people  of  the  settlement  showed  Christian 
care  for  them. 


266  ASA    TUB  NEB. 

1855 :  "  You  are  an  isolated  community,  away  one  side 
of  the  world,  living  in  one  of  the  poorest  parts  of  the 
state.  From  the  beginning  you  have  been  talked  about 
and  talked  against,  and  are  now.  There  are  a  great  many 
that  don't  love  you.  Your  opinions  have  been  regarded 
as  fanatical,  radical,  and  treasonable  —  and  to  such  a 
degree,  I  understand,  that  the  name  of  our  quiet  village 
is  as  familiar  in  the  state  south  of  us  as  that  of  St.  Louis. 
I  don't  know  that  you  can  rival  Nauvoo  in  celebrity,  but 
you  have  had  a  name  that  will  not  soon  be  forgotten. 

"  Now  the  tables  are  turned,  and  you  are  awarded  a 
respect  in  this  state  as  wide-spread  as  was  your  unsavory 
name  a  few  years  ago.  I  may  venture  to  affirm  that  no 
place  in  this  part  of  the  state  —  of  the  small  relative 
importance  of  this  —  exerts  any  thing  like  its  influence 
among  the  better  class  of  citizens.  What  I  desire  is  that 
we  be  not  puffed  up,  but  use  all  the  influence  God  has 
given  us  for  the  good  of  man.  I  have  a  desire  to  retain 
the  respect  of  the  world  only  so  far  as  we  can  have  the 
approbation  of  God." 

Letter,  November,  1855  :  "  Tell  Brother  Clark  he  must 
not  fail  to  come  to  us  some  time  this  winter.1  There  are 
very  important  reasons  why  he  should.  I  am  laid  by 
perhaps  for  life.  My  left  lung  pains  me  much.  What 
the  Lord  will  do  with  me  I  know  not.  We  have  new- 
comers :  a  great  many  youth  need  the  blessing  of  the 
Lord." 

Sermon,  1856  (of  his  coming  in  1838)  :  "  God  has  given 
five  children,  and  taken  two  of  them.  In  the  eighteen 
years  he  has  added  six,  and  permitted  them  all  to  live."  2 

1  Rev.  George  Clark,  of  Oberlin,  who  labored  as  an  evangelist  in  Iowa  with  great 
success  and  wisdom;  none  more  so.  His  preaching  was  both  persuasive  and 
searching,  and  the  revival  in  Denmark  that  winter  was  of  a  most  thorough  and 
spiritual  kind.  Mr.  Clark  was  in  the  first  Oberlin  theological  class,  who  left 
Lane  Seminary  from  anti-slavery  convictions. 

2  The  years  of  progress  had  made  the  band  of  thirty-one  pioneer  Christians  two 


STEADY  PBOGBESS  IN  IOWA.  267 

1857 :  "  (1)  God  has  given  us  a  comfortable  place  in 
which  to  pass  our  probation.  (2)  A  good  degree  of 
temporal  prosperity.  (3)  I  do  not  know  a  community 
so  entirely  satisfied  with  their  schools,  and  with  reason. 
(4)  Few  churches  have  less  strife." 

At  the  next  Autumnal  Meeting :  "  Our  pastor  stated 
that  as  there  had  been  a  change  in  business  affairs,  —  the 
price  of  produce  having  greatly  fallen,  —  he  proposed  that 
his  salary  be  reduced  to  accord  with  our  ability  to  pay. 
Finding  that  we  have  never  paid  him  as  much  as  he 
deserved,  Voted,  that  we  do  not  accede  to  his  proposition." 

Letter,  March,  1858 :  "  It  shows  some  interest  in  our 
people  to  leave  their  work  and  come  together  in  the 
middle  of  the  day  to  talk  about  salvation."  May, 
1858  :  "  I  have  worked  hard  this  winter  for  such  an 
indolent  "?]  man  as  I  am.  If  I  could  see  the  faces 
and  hear  the  prayers  of  my  brethren  of  Illinois  and 
Iowa,  whom  the  Lord  has  blessed  this  winter,  it  might 
quicken  my  poor  sluggish  soul.  We  have  had  an 
interesting  time  since  I  saw  you.  The  Lord  has  been 
with  us." 

hundred.  His  children  were  Henry  Holmes,  b.  1831;  Sarah  Evelina  Austin  (Mrs. 
Higgins),  1833;  an  infant,  1835;  Martha  (Mrs.  Searle),  1837;  Mary  Elizabeth 
(Mrs.  Shedd),  1838;  Hannah  Fisher  (Mrs.  Turner),  1840;  Asa,  1842;  Milton 
Badger,  1844;  Watson  Hull,  1846;  Ada  Olnistead  (Mrs.  Lyman),  1848. 


XXXII. 

THE   HIGHER    CHRISTIAN   EDUCATION. 

The  Denmark  pastor  never  lost  his  interest  in  common 
schools  like  those  he  had  taught  long  before  in  Massa- 
chusetts. More  than  with  most  Christian  ministers  of  our 
day  it  was  a  habit  with  him  to  visit  those  in  his  neighbor- 
hood. In  all  missionary  tours  his  eye  rested  with  pleasure 
upon  the  small  school-houses  multiplying  in  all  directions, 
and  he  was  apt  to  enter  their  doors  with  a  word  of 
encouragement  and  fatherly  counsel  to  the  pupils.  His 
wit  bubbled  up  under  the  influence  of  eager  young  eyes. 
He  once  hit  off  the  traditional  appeal  to  the  school-boy's 
ambition  to  be  President  of  the  United  States,  by  sug- 
gesting that  some  little  fellow  before  him  might,  by 
extraordinary  merit,  become  a  Washington  ;  adding,  with 
a  new  twinkle  in  his  glance,  "  Any  one  of  you  can  be  a 
."    The  glee  of  the  young  folks  sent  home  the  lesson. 

He  was  a  model  as  to  zeal  for  all  grades  of  education. 
They  were  inseparable  in  his  mind  from  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  on  earth.  Academy  students  always  got  from  him 
a  vigorous  impulse  towards  college.  Several  years  after 
retiring  from  active  service,  he  wrote  his  old  fellow-student 
and  fellow-pioneer,  Rev.  President  Sturtevant,  as  to  Illinois 
and  other  Western  colleges  :  — 

"I  wish  academies  could  be  built  up  in  different 
quarters  for  feeders.  This  is  what  is  needed.  Steam-mills 
are  good ;  but  they  necessitate  wheat  as  a  condition  of 
profit." 

His  care  over  the  academy  at  home  was  unsleeping  and 


Rev.  A.  A.  Sturges,  First  Principal  of  Denmark  Academy. 

See  page  269. 


THE  HIGHER    CHRISTIAN  EDUCATION.  269 


• 


industrious.  Successive  principals  found  in  him  a  tower  of 
strength.  Pupils  from  abroad  hardly  missed  the  loving 
pastoral  solicitude  left  behind  on  going  away  from  home. 

The  first  principal,  Rev.  Albert  Anderson  Sturges,  had 
been  very  useful  as  a  teacher  at  Washington,  Iowa.  Born 
in  Granville,  Ohio,  November,  1819,  he  was  appointed  at 
Denmark,  September,  1845,  and  remained  two  years.  He 
graduated  at  Wabash  College,  Indiana,  in  1848,  entering 
Yale  Seminary,  and  then  the  ministry  in  1851,  being 
ordained  at  Denmark  in  November  of  that  year.  With 
Mrs.  Sturges,  also  of  Granville,  he  sailed  January,  1852, 
for  Ponape,  Micronesian  Islands,  as  a  missionary  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 
In  two  visits  to  this  country  (1870  and  1880),  he  largely 
deepened  the  interest  of  American  Christians  in  those  far- 
off  heathen,  to  whose  service  he  gave  rarely  generous 
endeavor,  ardor,  and  wisdom.  His  house  on  Ponape  was 
once  burnt  down,  and  six  hundred  dollars  was  sent  from 
the  Board  to  rebuild  it.  He  returned  it  to  Boston  to  help 
send  the  bread  of  life  to  the  heathen,  rebuilding  his  home 
with  his  own  hands. 

After  a  stroke  of  paralysis  in  1885,  he  returned  to  Cali- 
fornia, passing  his  last  days  at  Oakland  in  surpervising  and 
completing  the  publication  of  the  Ponape  New  Testament. 
Under  a  third  stroke  of  paralysis  he  died  there,  September^ 
1887,  leaving  a  hallowed  memory  behind  him. 

In  1846  the  old  historic  church  edifice  was  relinquished 
to  the  academy,  —  whose  status  was  yet  ill-defined,  —  and 
the  district  school  was  also  taught  there.  It  was  diffi- 
cult to  exemplify  academical  education  as  such  in  these 
surroundings.  As  soon  as  possible,  on  the  academy  lands 
a  stone  building  was  erected  (now  a  wing),  and  Rev.  Mr. 
Drake  was  principal  for  two  years,  still  doing  pioneer 
work.     In  1852  Rev.  Henry  K.  Edson,  who  had  been  five 


270  ASA    TUBNEB. 

years  the  successful  principal  of  Hopkins  Academy, 
in  Hadley,  Mass.,  his  native  town,  began  in  the  only  room 
yet  finished,  with  eighteen  pupils  (one  from  abroad),  his 
service  as  principal,  which  was  to  continue  over  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  till  March,  1879. 

Henry  Kingman  Edson  was  born  at  Hadley,  Mass., 
October,  1822 ;  fitted  for  college  at  the  academy ;  grad- 
uated at  Amherst,  1844 ;  principal  of  Hopkins  Academy 
till  1849 ;  studied  theology  with  Rev.  John  Woodbridge, 
D.D.,  and  at  Andover  and  East  Windsor,  one  year  each  ; 
licensed  to  preach  by  East  Hampshire  Association,  April, 
1852 ;  ordained  at  Grinnell  in  1881. 

The  village  of  fifteen  years  which  greeted  the  teachers 
from  New  England,  and  from  so  beautiful  a  section  of  it, 
was  still  in  the  rough.  "  Blue  sky  and  green  prairie 
furnished  all  its  natural  scenery.  The  few  houses  were 
mostly  of  one  story,  or  of  one  and  a  half ;  few  lots  were 
fenced ;  every  thing  seemed  out-of-doors.  The  academy 
stood  alone  and  unsheltered  by  trees  upon  the  open 
prairie ;  it  had  not  even  door-steps.  Nor  was  there  in 
the  whole  place  sign  of  board  or  stone  walks  to  keep  one 
from  sinking  in  the  seas  of  mud.  As  to  the  church  build- 
ing, flocks  of  sheep  occasionally  found  friendly  shade  in  it 
week-days,  which  led  a  wag  to  say  that  'sheep  occupied 
the  house  during  the  week,  and  goats  on  Sundays.'  But 
kind  hearts  and  ready  hands  "  cheered  the  new  beginnings, 
and  above  all,  the  prayers  of  the  orderly  and  devout 
Sabbath  congregations  for  them,  led  by  the  large-hearted 
and  consecrated  pastor." 

The  first  catalogue,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  showed  an 
attendance  of  a  hundred  and  five — forty-four  from 
abroad ;  the  second,  a  total  of  a  hundred  and  forty-four  — 
eighty -eight  from  abroad ;  the  third,  two  hundred  and 
one  —  a  hundred  and    forty-four  from  abroad ;    the    next 


Prof.  H.  K.  Edson. 

(See  page  270.) 


THE  HIGHER    CHRISTIAN  EDUCATION.  271 

year  after  the  Rebellion,  two  hundred  and  seventy,  of 
whom  two  hundred  were  from  abroad,  and  from  sixteen 
different  states.  In  his  fourth  year  the  principal  arranged 
a  course  of  study  for  three  years,  including  Latin.  All  this 
while  tuitions  were  so  low  that  if  four  hundred  dollars 
per  annum  remained  for  him,  after  all  expenses  were  met, 
he  was  content.  The  cost  of  living  was  light ;  students 
paid  §1.25  to  $1.75  per  week  for  board;  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Edson,  $ 3.00 ;  and  their  host  informed  them  that  they 
"  cost  him  (each)  eighty-three  cents  per  week."  The  first 
graduates  from  the  regular  course  were  two  ladies  in 
1858.  From  1852  to  1878,  twenty-three  hundred  were  in 
attendance.  In  1878  the  number  rose  to  two  hundred 
and  seventy-two,  and  included  twenty  children  of  early 
pupils. 

All  through  these  years  the  church  records  bear  the 
constantly  recurring  statement :  u  Special  religious  inter- 
est among  the  students  of  the  academy."  For  this  the 
pastor  and  teachers  always  labored,  for  this  the  good 
people  of  the  town  always  looked.  No  institution  of  the 
kind  in  the  land  was  more  manifestly  a  nursery  of  piety 
as  well  as  of  learning. 

In  1867  a  new  and  beautiful  stone  academy  was  dedi- 
cated. It  cost  seventeen  thousand  dollars,  raised  in  part 
abroad.  In  1869  Father  Turner's  portrait  in  oil  was 
placed  in  it.  "  Your  friends  desire,"  said  Principal  Edson, 
in  presenting  it  at  the  anniversary,  "  that  long  after  the 
spirit  that  has  animated  these  familiar  features  shall  have 
engaged  in  nobler  service  above,  survivors  may  be  aided 
in  recalling  your  inspiriting  life  and  example,  and  gen- 
erations to  come,  especially  of  the  youth,  may  catch 
your  spirit  by  gazing  upon  this  portrait." 

This  most  useful  and  honored  institution  had  never 
been  endowed  —  save  by  a  small  fund  —  till  in  1874  lands 


272  ASA    TUBNEB. 

in  Kansas  estimated  at  ten  thousand  dollars  were  given. 
In  1877  the  whole  amounted  to  $17,209.  About  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  had  come  from  the  original  town-lots. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edson  had  given  three  thousand  dollars  to 
the  institution. 

In  1878  they  had  leave  of  absence  in  Europe  for  a 
year,  to  rest,  study,  travel,  and  regain  health.  Father 
Turner  advised  it.  The  next  year  Mr.  Edson  sent  from 
Geneva,  Switzerland,  his  resignation.  The  year  before 
the  trustees,  now  enlarged  to  fifteen,  had  put  on  record 
their  testimony  that  he  had  "  labored  with  the  strictest 
integrity,  with  Christian  honor  and  self-sacrificing  zeal," 
and  their  appreciation  of  his  "  signal  fidelity,  energy,  and 
success."  In  accepting  his  resignation,  they  expressed 
their  "  deep  sense  of  the  value  of  his  services  as  Principal 
of  the  Academy  for  twenty-six  years,"  and  their  "affec- 
tionate sympathies  and  fervent  prayers  for  his  continued 
usefulness." 

For  the  last  ten  years  Principal  Edson  has  been  pro- 
fessor of  didactics  in  Iowa  College,  a  new  chair  to  which 
he  was  called  on  his  return  from  Europe. 

The  writing  of  these  pages  had  reached  this  point, 
when  Mrs.  Celestia  Kirk  Edson  passed  away,  greatly  loved 
and  lamented.  Her  relations  to  Denmark  and  its  church 
and  pastor,  and  especially  to  the  academy  as  lady  princi- 
pal for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  —  a  longer  service  in 
one  place  than  that  of  any  other  lady  teacher  in  Iowa,  — 
and  her  own  winning  and  shining  excellencies,  demand 
this  record.  Her  Christian  education  and  character  were 
among  the  richest  and  sweetest  fruits  of  Mary  Lyon's 
work  at  Mount  Holyoke,  where  she  graduated  in  1848. 
She  went  to  Salonica,  Turkey,  that  year,  as  the  wife  of 
Rev.  Eliphal  Maynard,  of  the  American  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions.     After  his  death  at  Salonica 


THE  HIGHER   CHRISTIAN  EDUCATION.  273 

in  nine  months,  she  pursued  the  study  of  Spanish-Hebrew 
and  other  preparations  for  missionary  work  in  the  family 
of  Rev.  Dr.  W.  G.  Schauffler  at  Constantinople.  The 
change  in  the  Board's  policy  as  to  the  Jews  brought  her 
home  next  year,  and  she  taught  at  Plattsburg,  N.  Y.,  and 
Lyndon,  Vt.  Her  marriage  to  Mr.  Edson  in  1852  brought 
her  to  Iowa. 

She  was  born  at  Parishville,  N.  Y.,  November,  1826, 
and  died  at  Grinnell,  January  16,  1889,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-two  years.  Many  graduates  of  the  academy,  and 
pupils  of  hers  now  widely  scattered,  rise  up  and  call  her 
blessed,  for  ripe  beauty  of  Christian  character  and  influ- 
ence. 

Principal  Edson  has  borne  this  testimony  to  the  moral 
order  prevailing  during  his  long  service  :  "  The  academy 
was  never  disgraced  by  the  practice  of  hazing."  The 
nearest  to  it  —  a  charivari  —  "  was  sometimes  participated 
in  by  some  of  the  students,  leading  in  one  instance  to 
serious  and  prolonged  difficulties."  Partly  this  good 
order  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  in  Den- 
mark always,  as  now  through  nearly  all  Iowa,  "  prohibi- 
tion does  prohibit."  There  has  never  been  a  saloon  there, 
or  any  open  sale  of  liquor,  even  as  an  exception  to  the 
rule.  The  sheriff  of  the  county  (Lee),  when  unable  to 
tell  where  certain  residents  lived  who  were  wanted  on 
legal  grounds,  has  been  wont  to  say :  "  I  have  occasion  to 
know  all  the  people  of  this  county,  save  those  in  Den- 
mark. They  must  live  there."  Small  irregularities  have 
been  cured  by  moral  means  ;  but  once  —  in  the  fifties  — 
when  the  marriage  of  an  aged  couple  was  followed  by 
a  charivari,  and  the  whole  town  felt  disgraced,  Father 
Turner's  advice  to  appoint,  in  village-meeting,  a  committee 
on  reparation,  instead  of  leaving  the  young  offenders  to 
the  officers  of  the  law,  proved  unfortunate  for  him  and  the 


274  ASA   TURNEB. 

rest  of  the  well-intended  committee.  Assessing  and  receiv- 
ing damages  estimated,  the  committee  were,  each  man 
of  them,  mulcted  in  a  round  sum.  The  exemplary 
discipline  of  the  academy  also  re-acted  on  the  good  order 
of  the  town,  a  combined  product  of  the  firmness  and 
sagacity  of  the  two  chief  principals,  of  the  beautiful 
influence  of  the  long-time  lady  principal,  and  of  the 
true-hearted  pastor's  pervading  moral  power. 

He  made  fair  and  kindly  allowance  for  the  perplexities 
and  humanity  of  teachers,  never  so  criticizing  them  as  to 
promote  insubordination.  After  Mr.  Edson  had  gone  to 
Europe  he  wrote  the  church,  among  other  things :  "  He 
has  the  gift  of  government.  I  have  never  seen  a  school 
in  my  life  managed  with  so  little  friction  as  the  academy. 
Those  characteristics  which  fit  him  to  manage  such  an 
establishment  will  sometimes  produce  friction  among 
those  who  are  averse  to  it."  He  was  so  earnestly  the 
friend  of  good  order  in  the  college  that  he  once  made 
a  special  visit  to  persuade  students  not  to  carve  initials 
on  the  soft  sawed  stones  of  old  Central  College,  which 
they  found  such  a  temptation  to  jackknives. 

The  college  indeed  stood  only  next  to  the  academy  in 
the  heart  of  the  far-seeing  man  who  had  proposed  them 
both.  In  1855  he  wrote  :  "  I  hope  the  Lord  will  remove 
the  cloud  that  hangs  upon  the  college.  Now  is  the  time 
that  requires  faith  and  perseverance.  The  proposed  build- 
ing (35x50  feet)  is  no  larger  than  it  ought  to  be.  Means 
must  be  sought  without  giving  two  per  cent,  a  month,  and 
I  am  confident  there  are  those  in  the  East  who  will  loan 
the  money  for  less.  College  property  can  be  mortgaged, 
and,  if  that  will  not  do,  I  am  willing  to  mortgage  my 
homestead  [house  and  farm]  for  a  part  of  it,  say  fifteen 
hundred  dollars,  and  if  the  trustees  will  do  something 
the  same,  we  can  get  what  is  needful.  It  does  not  seem 
to  me  the  matter  need  be  discussed.     It  wants  action." 


THE  HIGHER   CHRISTIAN  EDUCATION.  275 

Three  years  later  it  was  beginning  to  be  apparent  that 
the  college  could  not  succeed  at  one  side  of  the  state,  with 
rivals  starting  in  the  interior.  He  wrote,  July  6,  1858 : 
"I  shall  go  prepared  for  the  removal  of  the  college  to 
Grinnell.  Of  the  wisdom  and  right  of  this  I  have  now 
no  doubt.  It  is  true  we  are  doing  something.  But  it  is 
time  we  made  the  best  move.  I  know  not  what  induce- 
ments D.  or  M.  may  present ;  but  one  thing  is  clear. 
They  will  be  within  a  cluster  of  colleges  so  thick  that  we 
shall  have,  as  our  Western  people  say,  '  no  range '  for 
students.  We  can  not  afford  to  spend  more  money  or  time 
to  furnish  a  school  for  D.,  and  this  is  about  all  our  college 
will  be  at  present,  if  it  remains  there." 

Grinnell  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  west  of 
Davenport,  a  town  of  New  England  origin,  planned  and 
named  for  Hon.  Josiah  B.  Grinnell.  It  had  had  a  Congre- 
gational church  from  April,  1855,  when  it  was  a  year  old, 
and  a  private  school  from  June  of  the  same  year,  taught 
successively  by  Miss  Lucy  H.  Bixby  (Mrs.  Marshall 
Bliss),  Rev.  Samuel  Loomis,  Hon.  S.  F.  Cooper,  and 
Prof.  L.  F.  Parker.  It  had  also  projected  a  "  university," 
of  which  this  school  was  to  be  the  preparatory  department 
when  it  should  be  opened.  Before  this  could  be  done,  the 
trustees  (April,  1858)  voted  to  transfer  every  thing  to 
Iowa  College,  and  the  project  was  abandoned.  The  col- 
lege trustees  accepted  the  transfer  and  voted  to  remove, 
suspending  operations  for  a  year.  It  1860  the  Grinnell 
school  was  made  the  preparatory  department,  with  Mr. 
Parker  as  principal ;  in  1861  a  freshman  class  was 
admitted  and  the  principal  made  professor  of  languages; 
and  in  1865  thirteen  were  graduated,  ten  of  these  young 
ladies. 

The  college,  meanwhile,  had  never  had  a  president, 
thoii'li    Rev.    Drs.   Palmer  and  Bushnell   and  President 


276  ASA    TUBNEB. 

Jonathan  Blan chard,  of  Knox,  had  been  elected,  and  a 
committee  had  conferred  in  vain  with  two  Connecticut 
pastors.  Father  Turner,  who  had  always  been  on  the 
committee  with  Messrs.  Guernsey  and  Magoun,  wrote, 
March,  1861 :  "  Mr.  G.  can  see  nothing  that  would  make 
it  duty  to  accept.     Brother  G=  has  written  Rev.  Dr.  D. 

No   answer.     Brother  R.   thinks  well  furnished   in 

Latin  and  Greek,  but  not  in  common-sense.  The  latter 
article  will  be  worth  more  to  our  raw  prairie  boys  than 
the  exact  knowledge  of  many  Greek  roots.  As  it  seems 
so  difficult  to  find  a  man  who  is  educated  for  the  post, 
perhaps  we  had  better  do  as  some  women  of  large  means 
and  larger  hearts  have  done,  find  a  man  in  whom  is  the 
raw  material  and  educate  him  for  the  place.  Are  there 
not  men  among  our  missionaries  or  pastors  at  the  North- 
west abundantly  able  ?  I  am  getting  discouraged  in  look- 
ing after  great  men.  ...  If  we  can  get  a  good  man  at  the 
head,  we  can  get  along  two  or  more  years  without  others. 
We  can  find  professors  as  we  need  them." 

In  Jnly,  1862,  Rev.  George  F.  Magonn,  of  Lyons,  who 
had  been  familiar  with  the  enterprise  from  the  beginning, 
and  five  years  secretary  of  the  trustees,  was  chosen 
president.  As  bnt  nine  thousand  dollars  of  endowment 
funds  were  taken  to  Grinnell,  after  debts  and  losses  were 
met,  it  was  stipulated  that  he  should  be  undisturbed  in 
his  pastoral  relation  while  the  presidency  was  unendowed. 
In  the  catalogue  for  1863  his  name  appears  as  "  President, 
and  Professor  of  Mental  and  Moral  Science,  Elect,"  with 
four  instructors,  Messrs.  Parker,  Von  Coelln,  Goodenow, 
and  Mrs.  S.  C.  Parker.  That  year  a  trustee,  Dr.  Holbrook, 
was  persuaded  to  ask  the  East  for  two  thousand  dollars 
for  current  expenses;  he  secured  it  by  two  Sabbath 
addresses  ;  the  Dubuque  church  consented  that  he  should 
be  absent  longer  and  raise  twenty  thousand  dollars ;  he 


THE  HIGHER    CHRISTIAN  EDUCATION.  277 

actually  raised  nearly  twice  this  amount,  including  the 
first  ten  thousand  dollars  on  president's  endowment.  June, 
1864,  the  presidency  was  accepted  —  other  instructors 
elected  —  and  leave  of  absence  in  Europe  given  the 
president  for  eight  months.  At  the  close  of  his  first  year, 
July  19,  1865,  President  Magoun  was  inaugurated. 

It  was  a  sore  struggle  for  years  after  to  keep  the  vessel 
afloat.  Besides  cares  at  home,  teaching  often  five  hours  a 
day,  and  doing  state  work,  the  president  had  to  obtain 
funds  for  current  expenses,  endowments,  apparatus,  build- 
ings, and  fixtures,  with  library  books.  Half  a  dozen  city 
pulpits  and  three  college  presidencies  made  advances  to 
him,  besides  other  enterprises  —  all  with  large  salaries  in 
promise.  In  1871  the  building  most  used  burned  down ; 
in  1882  all  the  buildings  and  contents  were  destroyed  by 
tornado  —  the  most  complete  college  destruction  ever 
known.  The  Faculty  had  increased  to  fifteen  :  the  attend- 
ance to  three  hundred  and  fifty.  Within  a  few  hours, 
in  both  cases,  Dr.  Magoun  announced  that  no  recitations 
would  be  interrupted.  In  the  latter  case,  the  academy 
lost  fifty  students  ;  the  college  proper,  none.  It  now  had 
in  the  latter  department  more  than  any  Congregational 
college  west  of  Ohio  ;  a  hundred  and  twelve  graduates  — 
there  are  college  presidents  and  professors  among  them ; 
and  had  taught  over  four  thousand  youth. 

In  eighteen  months  after  the  tornado  every  thing  was 
rebuilt  far  better  than  before,  with  an  additional  building ; 
in  two  years  funds  for  a  fourth  had  been  provided,  and 
the  college  property  amounted  to  between  three  and  four 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  Foundations  for  largely  in- 
creased success  had  been  laid.  In  1884  —  after  twenty 
years'  service  —  Dr.  Magoun  resigned  the  presidency, 
retaining  the  professorship  of  mental  and  moral  science. 

Father  Turner,  as  infirmities  increased,  tried  to  resign 


278  ASA   TURNER. 

as  trustee  of  the  academy  and  of  the  college.  Both  boards 
declined  to  remove  his  name  from  their  head,  and  he  died 
senior  trustee  of  both. 

The  comparatively  youthful  state,  in  which  these  are 
the  two  oldest  incorporated  institutions,  has  now  a  school 
population  of  more  than  six  hundred  thousand,  with 
twenty-five  thousand  public  school  teachers,  over  twelve 
thousand  school-houses,  worth  more  than  twelve  million 
dollars  ;  a  permanent  school  fund  of  four  million  dollars  ; 
a  goodly  number  of  higher  institutions ;  and  illiteracy  1.2 
per  cent.,  the  lowest  rate  in  the  world. 


XXXIII. 

REFORM   AND   REFORM   POLITICS. 

From  the  beginning  all  branches  of  Christian  reform 
were  advocated  at  Denmark.  Some  months  before  he 
made  his  home  there  the  future  patriarch  gave  a  tem- 
perance address,  and  sixty  persons  in  that  sparse  popula- 
tion signed  the  pledge.  An  original  church  rule  forbade 
receiving  as  members  any  "  who  will  not  habitually  abstain 
from  the  use  and  traffic  of  spiritous  liquors,  except  for 
medical,  chemical,  and  sacramental  purposes."  After  an 
address  from  him  at  Burlington,  November,  1839,  the  first 
State  Temperance  Society  in  Iowa  was  formed,  Governor 
Lucas,  president.1 

In  the  old  wooden  conventicle  at  Denmark  the  first 
juvenile  temperance  society  in  Iowa  was  formed  by  the 
pastor,  and  he  often  addressed  it,  to  the  delight  of  the 
little  folks.  One  of  them,  a  little  white-headed  boy, 
"  spoke  an  anti-tobacco  poem  on  one  such  occasion,"  says 
a  daughter  of  the  patriarch,  "and  father  confessed  that 
he  needed  the  rebuke  and  would  try  to  give  up  the  filthy 
stuff.  He  tried  more  than  once,  at  one  time  abstaining 
for  two  years,  but  a  physician's  prescription  undid  the 
reformation." 

1It  is  quite  improbable  that  Iowa  would  have  come  so  near  to  the  front  in  late 
prohibitory  legislation  had  Congregational  ministers  been  "  of  doubtful  mind." 
As  this  is  written,  a  message  comes  from  the  National  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union  respecting  the  revision  of  text-books  by  which  twelve 
million  children  in  the  land  are  now  brought  under  temperance  instruction. 
Long  years  ago  Father  Turner  had  in  mind  a  series  of  temperance  school-books. 
He  deeply  felt  that  men  would  never  be  permanently  and  universally  abstinent 
from  alcohol  till  well  instructed. 


280  ASA    TUBNEB. 

In  one  of  his  first  reports  he  said :  "  I  am  preaching 
occasionally  at  a  little  place  near  me '  (Moffatt's  Mill, 
or  Augusta).  "The  last  time  I  was  there  a  grocery- 
keeper  [always  a  liquor-seller  in  those  days]  brought 
out  his  bottle  and  said  he  would  '  see  who  would  get  the 
greatest  congregation.'  I  thought  he  would  have  taken 
the  majority  of  the  men  in  the  place."  What  he  did  for 
temperance  had  generally  to  be  done  away  from  home, 
thanks,  doubtless,  to  the  church  rule  above  quoted. 

So  as  to  Sabbath  reform.  The  prairie  village  was 
vastly  different  from  the  city  on  the  Mississippi.  So 
exemplary  were  all  u  Danes '  as  to  Sabbath  observance 
that  there  is  a  tradition  of  one  new-comer  once  making 
short  stay  among  them  when  he  discovered  it.  He  had 
bought  a  small  "  place,''  and  had  moved  in  the  last  of  the 
week.  The  following  Sunday  he  occupied  himself  with 
little  jobs  about  the  house  and  land,  while  all,  save  his 
family,  were  at  church.  Monday  morning  a  neighbor, 
passing  early,  in  a  very  friendly  way  expostulated  with 
him,  and  intimated  that  the  Christian  Sabbath  was  not  so 
spent  among  that  people.  The  church  even  set  aside 
members  for  Sabbath-breaking.  He  was  angry,  and, 
after  inquiring  further,  sold  out  and  left. 

The  Association  in  1846  declared  itself  against  desecra- 
tion of  the  Sabbath,  especially  by  traveling  on  that  day. 
The  advance-guard  of  civilization  is  every-where  com- 
posed of  very  hard-working  men.  It  was  said  at  their 
Semi-centennial  that  "it  required  the  utmost  efforts  of 
many  of  the  settlers  of  Denmark  for  several  years  to 
secure  the  necessaries  of  life."  The  need  of  amusement 
and  diversion  they  doubtless  often  felt.  Yet  no  one  had 
an  "  outing '  when  the  summer's  sun  made  field-labor 
irksome  ;  and  we  have  seen  how  reading  and  a  debating 
society  furnished  their  first  winter  recreation.     In  a  less 


BEFOBM  AND  BEFOBM  POLITICS.  281 

intelligent  and  religious  community  dancing  and  similar 
social  hilarities  would  have  taken  the  foremost  place,  as 
they  did  elsewhere,  even  among  professing  Christians. 
It  was  in  keeping  with  their  plain  and  vigilant  Puritanism 
that  when  they  saw  signs  of  this  coming  to  pass  among 
them  they  declared  dancing  a  disciplinable  offence.  They 
always  exerted  an  influence  to  elevate,  refine,  and  purify 
society  about  them.  "  There  was  only  one  opinion  on  this 
subject  in  this  part  of  the  West.  Dancing,  card-playing, 
and  drinking  usually  went  hand  in  hand."  The  churches 
in  larger  towns  on  the  river  were  more  troubled  with  all 
of  these.  On  motion  of  one  of  their  pastors  the  Associa- 
tion, as  early  as  1845,  had  pronounced  "the  practice  of 
dancing  by  members  of  our  churches  inconsistent  with 
a  profession  of  religion,  and  [it]  ought  to  be  made 
a  subject  of  discipline."  "  None  in  our  churches  in 
those  days  thought  [the  three  things  above  mentioned] 
would  ever  be  allowed  in  our  denomination  in  the  West. 
We  believed  that  on  these  points  the  battle  had  been 
fought  for  all  time."  1 

From  the  first  the  state  of  temperance  reform  had  been 
reported  at  Association  meetings.  At  the  second  meeting, 
in  1841,  defects  in  the  laws  for  the  suppression  of  immoral- 
ities were  discussed,  and  action  taken.  Five  years  later 
this  body  put  itself  on  the  record  in  favor  of  county  local 
option.  Mormonism,  doctrinal  differences,  perfectionism, 
a  lay  and  itinerant  ministry,  peace,  political  duties  of 
Christians,  withdrawing  fellowship  from  ministers  and 
churches  "  unsound  in  doctrine  or  disorderly  in  conduct," 
the  Mexican  War,  the  Maine  law,  secret  societies,  were 

1  This  primitive  discipline  and  its  good  fruits  should  leave  no  impression  of  an 
inquisition  over  individual  or  church  life.  Espionage  was  Father  Turner's  abomi- 
nation. In  one  of  his  "annual"  sermons  he  discoursed  of  telling  other  people's 
faults.  "Who  of  you,"  he  asked,  *'  on  visiting  a  family  would  inspect  a  sink-hole 
and  report  on  the  condition  of  the  sink?  "  He  loved  to  discover  Christian  virtues 
and  dwell  on  attractive  graces  of  character. 


282  ASA   TUENEE. 

among  the  subjects  on  which  resolutions  were  passed. 
And  hardly  ever  was  unanimity  lacking.  It  was  felt  to 
be  necessary  to  any  moral  power. 

The  repeal  of  the  laws  relating  to  blacks  and  mulattoes 
was  agitated  by  Father  Turner  and  his  brethren  in  1841. 
These  laws  were  pronounced  "  a  violation  of  the  princi- 
ples of  justice  and  the  laws  of  God,  oppressive  in 
operation,  and  forbidding  acts  of  humanity."  Notwith- 
standing the  prohibitory  features  of  the  Great  Ordinance 
and  the  Missouri  Compromise,  the  Territorial  Act  of 
January,  1839,  required  of  colored  persons  coming  into 
Iowa  a  court  certificate  of  freedom,  and  a  bond  concern- 
ing becoming  a  county  charge,  any  crime  or  misdemeanor 
forfeiting  the  condition  of  the  bond.  Failing  to  give  this 
bond,  county  commissioners  were  to  sell  their  labor  for 
six  months  "  for  the  best  price  in  cash."  Persons  hiring 
them  otherwise  were  fined  five  to  one  hundred  dollars. 
Slave-holders  were  allowed  to  carry  their  "  servants  ' 
through  the  territory  unhindered.  Any  black  or  mulatto 
claimed  "  as  property "  to  be  arrested  and  delivered  up 
with  a  fee  to  the  constable,  etc. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  in  July,  1839,  just  after  this 
law  was  enacted,  the  first  case  ever  brought  before  the 
Supreme  Territorial  Court  was  that  of  "  Ralph,  a  colored 
man,  on  habeas  corpus."  The  sheriff  of  Dubuque  County 
had  delivered  him  to  a  Missouri  claimant.  It  appeared 
that  he  had  a  written  contract  with  his  owner  to  leave 
Missouri  and  work  in  the  lead-mines  till  from  his  earnings 
he  had  paid  five  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  with  interest 
from  January  1,  1835,  for  his  freedom.  This  he  had  not 
yet  done.  The  Court  ruled  that  to  adjudge  him  to  be 
a  fugitive  slave,  because  payment  for  his  freedom  in 
Missouri  (which  was  to  run  through  an  indefinite  time 
of    absence   by   consent)    was    not    complete,    would    be 


RE  FOB  M  AND  BE  FORM  POLITICS.  283 

a  construction  which  u  would  introduce  almost  unquali- 
fied slavery  into  all  the  free  states."  "  For  non-payment 
of  debt,"  said  Chief  Justice  Charles  Mason,  "  no  man  in 
this  territory  can  be  reduced  to  slavery."  "  The  laws 
should  extend  equal  protection  to  men  of  all  colors 
and  conditions."  "  The  prisoner  should  be  discharged 
from  all  custody  and  constraint." 

The  attorney  who  defended  "  Ralph,"  under  the  Ordi- 
nance and  the  Compromise  (not  forgetting  Blackstone 
vs.  slavery,  as  "repugnant  to  reason  and  natural  law,"  or 
Deut.  23 :  15  vs.  delivering  "  unto  his  master  the  servant 
which  is  escaped  from  his  master  unto  thee ")  was  the 
same  one  who  at  Burlington,  in  1836,  informed  Father 
Turner  of  Dr.  Nelson's  expulsion  from  Missouri. 

The  Denmark  pulpit  in  those  days  never  gave  an 
uncertain  sound,  nor  failed  to  give  a  certain  and  ringing 
one.  The  righteous  souls  of  hearers  were  stirred.  From 
its  first  year,  the  settlement  had  had  a  monthly  anti- 
slavery  concert.  A  deacon,  wonted  to  one  at  Lowell, 
Mass.,  suggested  it  to  the  pastor,  and  it  began  at  once 
at  the  deacon's  house.  Neither  of  them  could  be  at 
home  where  slaves  were  not  prayed  for.  One  of  them 
bore  life-long  memories  of  the  Quincy  and  Alton  "epi- 
sodes." This  entry  stands  in  the  other's  church  record : 
"  Monthly  Concert  (Foreign  Missions),  first  Sabbath 
evening  of  the  month  and  contribution.  Last  Sabbath 
evening  a  prayer-meeting  for  the  slave,  and  a  collection 
frequently  to  assist  in  the  deliverance  of  some." 

That  there  should  be  not  a  single  note  of  dissent  to  all 
this  would  be  incredible.  One  of  the  few  letters  pre- 
served by  Father  Turner  is  a  long  and  remarkably  plain 
one  from  an  aged  member  —  a  New  Hampshire  immigrant. 
He  reminded  his  minister  that  "the  standard  of  holiness 
is  to  be  raised  by  preaching  the  pure,  unadulterated  doc- 


284  ASA    TUBNEB. 

trines  of  the  cross.  Never  till  I  came  here  did  national 
policy  disgrace  the  sacred  desk  in  my  hearing  on  the 
sacred  day.  The  more  interest  I  take  in  politics,  the  less 
I  have  in  religion.  What  natural  connection  is  there 
between  harangues  on  national  policy  and  the  real  doc- 
trines of  the  cross  of  Christ  ?  .  .  .  Sometimes  for  a  number 
of  Sabbaths  you  are  pretty  well  engaged  in  preaching  the 
Bible  :  and  I  shall  be  willing  to  hear  and  pay  you,  if  you 
will  constantly  take  the  Bible  for  the  substance  of  dis- 
course, as  well  as  for  a  text.  .  .  .  There  are  times  in  which 
it  may  be  right  to  take  the  subject  of  national  policy  for 
an  address  to  the  people.  .  .  .  You  will  remember  I  am 
advanced  in  years.  And  I  am  confident  if  you  do  your 
duty  as  a  faithful  minister,  you  will  leave  out  politics  on 
the  Sabbath  and  preach  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  cross. 
Then  there  will  be  no  one  in  the  universe  to  blame  vou 
or  harm  you.  You  tell  of  the  leaven  of  the  gospel  doing 
much  toward  the  freedom  of  the  slave.  But,  sir,  I  am 
confident  it  is  the  leaven  of  malice  and  wickedness  that 
so  ferments  the  land." 

Pretty  faithful  dealing  this  with  one's  minister !  and 
pretty  faithfully  the  grounds  of  objection  to  the  gospel 
cannonade  against  slavery  were  covered.  With  what 
gentle  and  gracious  humility  it  was  read  and  filed  away 
at  the  parsonage,  it  is  easy  to  imagine ;  and  how  quietly 
and  prayerfully  the  reader  —  then  entering  upon  his  forty- 
fifth  year  — proceeded  to  do  his  duty. 

The  next  September,  on  his  motion,  the  Iowa  Associa- 
tion adopted  its  first  "  testimony '  against  slavery,  with- 
drawing fellowship  from  professing  Christians  who  held 
slaves,  and  declaring  it  the  duty  of  all  who  held  them  to 
repent  of  it  as  "a  heinous  sin  against  God  and  a  gross 
violation  of  the  law  and  gospel  of  Christ,"  and  to  "  forsake 
their  sin."     The  next  year  the  resolution  as  to  fellowship 


REFORM  AND  REFORM  POLITICS.  285 

was  re-considered,  but  restored  in  1846,  and  all  re-affirmed 
in  1848.  From  time  to  time,  this  "  testimony "  was  en- 
larged and  made  more  specific,  especially  as  to  national 
affairs,  and  the  relations  of  benevolent  societies  to  slave- 
holding  ministers  and  churches ;  it  never  lagged  behind 
the  exigency.  Father  Turner  was  commonly  at  first  the 
author  of  these  expressions,  or  on  committees  to  frame 
them. 

He  preserved  another  protest  against  his  anti-slavery 
Christianity.  It  is  a  letter  from  his  member  of  Congress, 
Hon.  Bernhart  Henn,  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Washington,  April  24,  1854,  dissenting  from  two  earnest 
letters  received  from  him,  protesting  against  the  Nebraska 
bill  of  Senator  Douglas.  The  member  of  Congress 
argued  to  the  preacher  that  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  restriction  upon  slavery  would  weaken  the 
peculiar  institution  by  diffusion,  and  by  increased  immi- 
gration from  the  North  into  new  territories  south  of 
36°  30'.  In  general,  he  seems  to  have  resolved  the 
irrepressible  conflict '  into  the  then  undiscovered 
struggle  for  existence."  "  For  some  wise  purpose,"  he 
wrote,  ""Providence  ordained  that  all  of  his  creatures 
should  differ  from  each  other  in  mental  as  well  as  physi- 
cal faculties,  and  that  the  moral  and  political  world,  as 
well  as  the  physical,  should  be  in  a  constant  state  of  war. 
.  .  .  While  I  always  looked  upon  African  slavery  as  a 
political  evil  to  those  among  whom  it  existed,  I  never 
looked  upon  it  as  a  moral  evil,  but  rather  as  an  existing 
state  of  human  inequality  [ordained]  for  some  unforeseen 
but  beneficent  purpose."  1 

1  The  member  of  Congress  protested  against  Northern  indignation  at  the  Illinois 
senator's  course,  and  the  preacher's  pungent  comparison  of  it  to  the  typical 
biblical  example  of  betrayal.  The  comparison  was  often  made  in  those  critical 
days.  Even  the  serene  spirit  of  Dr.  Post  was  so  stirred  that  in  his  oration  at  Iowa 
College  commencement,  two   years  later,  x-eferring  to   earlier  days,   he   said: 


286  ASA    TURNEB. 

A  multitude  of  incidents  must  here  be  omitted.  But 
one  has  two  or  three  times  found  its  way  into  print,  — 
not  with  entire  correctness,  —  and  as  the  writer  was 
nearest  to  Father  Turner  of  the  immediate  circle  about 
him,  and  is  almost  the  only  one  surviving,  it  is  here  given 
as  it  took  place.  It  was  earlier  in  1854  than  the  letter 
just  quoted. 

A  state  election  was  to  be  held  in  August.  The  anti- 
slavery  forces  were  first  mustered,  and  Rev.  Simeon 
Waters,  then  home  missionary  at  Mount  Pleasant,  had 
been  nominated  for  governor.  The  writer  suggested  to  a 
friend  (a  Burlington  lawyer  and  a  Yale  graduate  of 
1834)  that  if  Mr.  Grimes  could  be  nominated  by  the 
Whigs,  and  would  take  up  the  cause  of  slavery  restric- 
tion and  the  Maine  law,  possibly  (with  his  influence  in 
the  state  and  the  votes  of  temperance  and  anti-slavery 
men  and  new  settlers  from  the  East)  he  might  be  elected. 
In  the  last  previous  Legislature  he  had  influenced  "more 
votes  than  any  five  members  of  the  House  combined." 
He  had  retired  from  law  practice,  and  was  giving  his 
attention  to  extensive  farming.  This  friend  went  to  the 
state  convention,  and  not  only  secured  Mr.  Grimes' 
nomination,  but  that  of  Mr.  Waters  on  the  same  ticket 
as  lieutenant-governor,  a  bit  of  unexpected  finesse. 

There  was  vast  excitement  at  once  in  anti-slavery  cir- 
cles. A  convention  was  called  for  March  28,  at  Craw- 
fordsville,  of  "Abolitionists,  Liberty  Party  men,  and  Free 
Soilers."  When  it  met,  all  opposed  to  slavery  were 
invited  to  take  part,  and  leading  Free  Soil  Whigs  were 
present.     The   writer,  knowing   Mr.   Grimes'    sentiments 

"  Kansas  and  Nebraska  had  not  risen  to  the  horizon.  No  muse  of  history  pointed 
thither  with  sad  and  bloody  fingers,  or  brandished  her  avenging  scourge  over 
wrongs  about  to  be  perpetrated  there,  the  foulest,  meanest,  and  most  portentous  in 
American  story.  The  Erostratus  of  that  infamy  was  not  yet  emergent  from  the 
innocent  obscurity  of  the  common-school  room." 


JtEFOBM  AXD  BEFOBM  POLITICS.  287 

thoroughly,  went,  at  his  request,  with  the  manuscript  of 
an  address,  "  To  the  people  of  Iowa "  (published  a  few 
days  after,  April  8),  in  his  pocket.  One  of  the  Denmark 
deacons,  Isaac  Field,  was  chairman  ;  Mr.  Waters  had 
withdrawn  from  the  nomination  for  governor ;  and,  after 
an  evening's  vehement  discussion  of  the  matter  and  ac- 
ceptance of  his  action  (adhering  to  the  rest  of  their 
candidates),  Father  Turner  was  made  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  platform.  At  his  lodgings  we  canvassed 
the  situation  till  about  midnight  —  then  slept  upon  it. 
Next  morning,  while  his  room-mate  was  dressing,  Father 
Turner  wrote  on  the  back  of  a  letter  in  pencil  this  unique 
and  characteristically  terse  "  platform,"  probably  now  first 
published :  — 

"Whereas  (1),  The  Nebraska  bill  is  the  great  ques- 
tion of  national  politics,  and 

"Whereas  (2),  The  Maine  law  is  the  great  question 
of  state  politics  ;  therefore 

"  Resolved,  That  we  will  vote  for  James  W.  Grimes,  of 
Des  Moines  County,  for  governor." 

Vehement  debate  over  this  for  half  a  day.  Lack  of 
personal  acquaintance  with  the  man  was  the  chief  obstacle. 
Even  the  author  of  the  "platform'  had  to  say  that  — 
though  his  neighbor  in  a  sense  for  some  sixteen  years  — 
as  to  present  issues  he  did  not  know  him,  while  much 
inquiry  had  satisfied  him  that  he  was  the  man  to  vote  for. 
The  latter  part  of  his  manuscript  address  to  the  people, 
read  to  the  convention,  removed  all  doubt,  and  the  resolu- 
tion was  carried  with  a  substantial  unanimity.  Its  brevity 
—  not  likely  to  be  imitated  in  such  conventions !  —  and 
the  shrewdness  which  excluded  argument  and  epithet 
from  it  made  it  a  chief  factor  in  inauguratingthe  career  of 
one  of  the  ablest  of  state  governors  and  one  of  the  wisest 
of  United  States  senators.     All  parties  in  the  convention 


288  ASA   TUBNEB. 

seemed  to  have  about  equal  confidence  in  his  sponsor.  In 
the  manuscript  address  Mr.  Grimes  had  made  five  issues, 
namely,  amendment  of  the  State  Constitution  in  some 
particulars ;  the  right  of  the  Legislature  to  prohibit 
liquor-selling ;  modification  of  the  Homestead  bill  (pending 
in  Congress) ;  and  defeat  of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise.  The  last  of  these  overshadowed  all  others. 
"Visiting  nearly  every  portion  of  the  state,"  says  Dr. 
Salter  of  Mr.  Grimes,  in  his  Life  (p.  S'S),  "  he  addressed 
the  people  in  speeches  that  won  him  high  reputation  for 
ability  and  candor."  His  own  impression,  given  in  a 
letter  to  the  friend  who  represented  him  at  Crawfordsville,1 
was  without  doubt  correct,  that  they  did  "more  good 
to  the  cause  of  humanity  and  liberal  ideas  than  all 
the  speeches  made  in  the  state,  and  many  sermons."  It 
was  the  first  political  canvass  of  the  whole  state.  A  new 
moral  attitude  of  the  people,  as  well  as  a  party  transfer, 
was  involved.  Mr.  Grimes  took  early  occasion  to  ride  out 
to  Denmark  and  pass  half  a  day  with  Father  Turner,  to 
the  great  satisfaction  of  both.  Mr.  Waters  was  induced 
to  decline  his  nomination  as  lieutenant-governor.  This 
helped  Mr.  Grimes  with  Old  Line  Whigs.  In  mid- 
campaign  he  signified  to  his  friend  that  in  the  northern 
counties  he  should  find  place  for  the  Maine  law  in  his 
speeches,  which  he  did  with  excellent  effect,  being  the 
first  public  man  in  Iowa  so  to  stake  his  political  fortunes. 
He  was  the  only  candidate  on  the  ticket  elected,  receiving 
a  majority  of  2,486  votes  out  of  43,594.  Iowa,  which  in 
his  inaugural,  December,  1854,  he  happily  called  "  the  only 
free  child  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,"  has  ever  since 
stood  for  freedom  and  the  prohibition  of  slave-holding. 
The  General  Association  meeting  in  Burlington,  in 
1863,  had  an  address  from   Senator   Grimes  by   special 

1  Life,  by  Dr.  Salter,  p.  51. 


BE 'I 'OEM  AND  BEFOBM  POLITICS.  289 

invitation  on  the  state  of  the  country  and  the  slave- 
holders' rebellion.  In  the  course  of  it  he  remarked  that 
such  public  servants  as  he  was  were  "  made  "  by  the 
public  sentiment  created  by  such  men  as  the  Congrega- 
tional ministers  and  laymen  around  him  ;  adding,  "  I 
am  myself  the  foster-son  of  him  whom  you  call  Father 
Turner,  and  the  foster-brother  of  another  of  your  num- 
ber whose  blushes  remind  me  that  I  must  not  pronounce 
his  name."  In  a  private  conversation  that  evening 
between  these  two,  the  patriarch  was  asked  if  he  had 
duly  repented  of  his  political  agency  as  foster-father  nine 
years  before  ?  to  which  the  prompt  reply  was,  with  empha- 
sis :  "  Never,  and  I  never  shall." 

There  is  no  need  now  of  saying  that  a  Christian  con- 
servatism, decisive  and  wholesome,  mingled  with  the  zeal 
and  moral  courage  of  this  unpretending  reform  leader. 
In  the  letter  of  reproof  from  his  aged  parishioner  here- 
tofore quoted  occur  these  words :  "  Your  friends,  the 
Garrisonites,  are  for  trampling  on  the  Sabbath  and  demol- 
ishing government,  both  civil  and  religious."  The  pastor 
was  as  firm  for  government  and  law  as  he  was  for  the 
Sabbath,  as  firm  as  he  had  been  for  all  of  them  in  perilous 
times  in  Illinois.  His  practical  keenness  cut  through 
appearances  and  names  to  the  core  of  things.  Some 
months  after  the  election  mentioned,  on  reading  UA 
Conservative  View  of  the  Nebraska  Question," x  he 
wrote :  "  I  don't  see,  Brother  M.,  as  your  conservatism 
is  a  bit  better  than  my  radicalism."  The  article  closed 
by  showing  that  slavery  propagandism  meant  secession 
from  the  Union.  The  patriarch's  foresight  as  to  this  was 
as  undimmed  as  that  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  "  Some 
thirty  years  ago,"  says  a  lady  who  was  then  a  child, 
"  sitting  by  our  fireside  the   conversation   turned   upon 

1  New  Englander,  November,  1854. 


290  ASA    TURNER. 

slavery.  [It  often  did  by  Denmark  firesides ! "  I  can 
see  his  face  as  he  said,  '  I  tell  you,  Brother  S.,  slavery  is 
a  cancer  eating  out  the  life  of  our  body  politic.  There  is 
no  remedy  for  it  but  the  knife.  It  must  be  cut  away. 
Torrents  of  blood  must  flow.  The  nation  may  bleed  to 
death,  but  it  is  our  only  hope.' " 

It  will  surprise  no  one  to  know  that  fugitives  for 
freedom  were  always  welcome  at  the  Denmark  parsonage 
and  in  neighboring  Christian  homes.  The  village,  it  must 
be  confessed,  had  the  name  of  being  one  of  the  stations 
on  the  Underground  Railroad.  Masters  from  Missouri 
often  crossed  the  Lower  Des  Moines  and  the  south-eastern 
corner  of  Iowa  in  pursuit  of  runaways,  or  came  up  the 
Missouri  by  boat.  No  exciting  contests  occurred  at  Den- 
mark, however,  as  at  Burlington,1  and,  indeed,  the  rural 
village  had  no  attorneys  to  take  part  in  them.2 

One  of  the  Quincy  Christians  whose  boat  took  Dr. 
Nelson  across  the  Mississippi  followed  Father  Turner 
to  Denmark  and  aided  in  making  "  the  underground 
railroad"  a  success.  All  in  those  days  could  tell  of 
"  hair-breadth  escapes."  Once  two  "  Danes  ':  crossed  to 
Pontoosuc,  III.,  on  the  same  ferryboat  with  a  Missouri 
"  claimant,"  the  object  of  his  search  lying  flat  on  the 
bottom  of  the  Denmark  wagon,  snugly  covered  with 
some  sort  of  lading  for  market. 

"  I    remember,"   says    a   daughter   of    Father    Turner,. 

1  See  Life  of  Grimes,  pp.  72,  73. 

2  There  was  no  antecedent  balance  of  probability  in  favor  of  a  settlement  so- 
near  the  Missouri  line  being  zealous  against  slave-holding.  Father  Turner  gives 
this  "early  "incident:  "  Passing  a  house  one  Monday  morning,  I  was  called  in 
and  found  the  principal  men  gathered  there.  '  We  have  been  discussing  your 
sermon  of  yesterday.  Such  and  such  men  say,  "  We  like  Mr.  Turner,  like  his 
preaching,  but  don't  like  his  anti-slavery  sentiments."  '  I  replied :  '  Well,  brother, 
I  don't  doubt  it  is  just  so,  but  what  would  you  do,  preach  to  please  God  or  man?' 
1  Don't  know,  don't  know.'  I  consented  to  supply  on  one  condition  —  that  I  be 
allowed  to  preach  my  own  convictions  of  truth,  and  reserve  the  right  to  change  my 
opinion  before  the  next  Sabbath,  and  when  they  did  n't  want  me  I  would  be  off 
without  trouble." 


REFORM  AND  REFORM  POLITICS.  291 

"  with  what  absolute  delight  he  first  told  us  of  the  brave 
little  woman  in  Salem  (Henry  County,  Iowa)  who  had  an 
invalid  husband  at  the  time  of  '  the  Missouri  mob '  in 
search  of  a  fugitive.  These  lawless,  drunken  desperadoes 
were  sure  he  was  in  the  place  [a  Quaker  village],  and 
were  searching  houses,  and  gathered  before  this  little 
home  of  two  or  three  rooms.  The  wife,  pushing  the  sick 
husband  back,  answered  at  the  door.  4  Do  you  know  where 
that  nigger  is  ? '  4  Yes,  I  do  ;  he  is  n't  two  hundred  yards 
from  this  door ;  and  if  you  had  n't  been  fools  you  'd  have 
found  him  long  ago.'  The  mob  looked  elsewhere  for  the 
slave  —  and  did  not  find  him." 

The  General  Association,  in  1853,  affectionately 
'"requested  the  executive  committee  of  the  A.  H.  M. 
S.  to  adopt  a  rule  under  which  aid  shall  be  withheld 
from  churches  admitting  voluntary  slave-holders  to 
their  communion."  Iowa  lifted  up  her  heart  in  joy 
and  gratitude,  a  few  years  later,  when  informed  from 
New  York  that  this  had  been  done. 

In  1858  Father  Turner  thus  expressed  himself  on 
another  practical  question  that  perplexed  his  brethren : 
"I  should  be  in  favor  of  an  independent  Tract  Society, 
with  head-quarters  at  Chicago.  I  have  no  hope  of  the 
recovery  of  the  New  York  Society  before  the  dawn  of 
the  millennium.  At  that  glorious  morning  I  expect  it 
will  come  up  shouting  the  praises  of  liberty  and  affirming 
that  it  had  always  been  the  friend  of  the  slave." 

By  the  anti-slavery  action  of  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society  "  the  understandings  of  other  societies 
were  gradually  enlightened,  and — last  of  all  —  the  Ameri- 
can Tract  Society  was  awakened  by  the  roar  of  cannon, 
and  filed  to  the  rear  of  the  army  of  Liberty."  1 

If  there  had  been  a  time  when  any  of  his  Iowa  breth- 

1  Sermon  at  Semi-centennial  Iowa  Association. 


292  ASA   TUBNEB. 

ren  felt  that  Father  Turner  was  too  impetuously  and  too 
far  in  the  advance  respecting  slavery,  that  time  passed 
away  with  the  attacks  on  Mr.  Sumner  and  on  Fort 
Sumter.  He  once  said  very  thoughtfully  and  deliber- 
ately :  "  I  would  do  any  thing  to  destroy  slavery  but 
commit  sin." 


XXXIV. 

A  LONG   PASTORATE  ENDED. 

Up  to  1856  the  largest  Congregational  church  in  Iowa 
was  at  Denmark,  though  it  reached  but  two  hundred  and 
five  members ;  in  1857,  that  of  Davenport  became  the 
largest ;  the  next  year,  that  of  Dubuque  ;  in  1865,  that 
of  Grinnell,  with  two  others  of  the  younger  churches 
next  following,  Des  Moines  and  Tabor  (815,  440,  and 
333  respectively,  Denmark  having  150  in  later  years). 

As  time  wore  on  and  newer  sections  of  the  state  filled 
up,  the  churches  came  to  number  a  hundred  and  forty- 
four  —  nine  of  these  with  over  a  hundred  members  each ; 
the  District  Associations,  eight ;  the  ministers,  a  hundred 
and  five ;  the  aggregate  membership,  forty-eight  hundred 
and  fifty.  Iowa  is  now  fifth  among  the  leading  Congrega- 
tional states,  standing  between  Illinois  and  Maine. 

In  these  years  Rev.  Jesse  Guernsey  succeeded  Messrs. 
Turner  and  Reed  as  Home  Missionary  Agent  (Septem- 
ber, 1857).  Five  years  later,  Mr.  Reed  took  charge  of 
Southern  Iowa ;  two  years  after  this  Mr.  Gaylord,  of 
Western  Iowa,  and  Rev.  J.  W.  Pickett  followed  Mr. 
Reed  and  Mr.  Gaylord  in  1869. 

Jesse  Guernsey  was  born  at  Watertown,  Conn.,  1822 ; 
studied  at  Sharon  with  Rev.  Clarence  C.  Brownell ;  by 
the  Erie  Canal  he  sought  Western  Reserve  College, 
1842,1  and  was  in  the  theological  department  two  years, 

1  Converted  two  years  before,  walking  for  several  weeks  three  miles  every 
evening  to  religious  services.  For  classical  tuition  he  paid  in  part  by  labor 
at  twenty-five  cents  a  day,  balancing  the  education  account  years  after  at 
Dubuque  by  helping  on  one  of  his  tutor's  six  sons  who  had  strayed  West. 


294  ASA    TUBNER. 

and  then  three  (1844-47)  in  Yale  Seminary,  getting  what 
college  education  he  could  by  the  way,  and  uby  the 
hardest ; '  was  pastor  of  Bethesda  Church,  Charlestown, 
Mass.,  1847-49  (ordained  in  1847) ;  was  subsequently 
a  useful  pastor  at  Derby,  Conn.,  1849-52 ;  Saybrook, 
1852-53 ;  Dubuque,  Iowa,  1853-55  ;  Woodbridge,  Conn., 
1856-67 ;  and  in  the  service  of  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society  till  his  death  at  Dubuque,  1871. 

Joseph  Worthy  Pickett  was  born  at  Andover,  Ohio, 
1832  ;  graduated  at  Alleghany  College,  Penn.,  1855 ; 
taught  two  years  at  Taylorsville,  Tenn ;  graduated  again 
at  Yale  College,  1858 ;  and  at  Andover  Seminary,  1861 ; 
ordained  at  Bristol,  N.  H.,  1862 ;  preached  at  Wentworth, 
N.  H.,  two  years,  then  at  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa,  till  he 
took  the  superintendence  of  home  missions  for  Southern 
Iowa  in  1869.  In  1878  he  became  superintendent  in 
Colorado,  and  was  killed  in  the  overturning  of  a  stage 
on  the  mountains,  November  14,  1879. 

Dr.  Guernsey  was  of  large  make,  both  of  body  and 
mind,  a  man  of  great  practical  energy  and  wisdom,  with 
a  voice  of  remarkable  volume  and  depth,  of  quick  and 
strong  sensibility,  apt  in  affairs  and  fertile  in  expedients, 
and  untiring  in  his  devotion  to  home  evangelization.  In 
him,  says  one,  "head  and  heart  were  very  large."  For 
five  years  (till  The  Advance  was  founded)  he  conducted, 
with  Rev.  G.  F.  Magoun,  The  Religious  News  Letter,  the 
pioneer  of  state  monthlies.  He  was  an  invaluable  coun- 
selor in  the  college  and  the  associations.  Mr.  Pickett  was 
of  a  kindling  and  enthusiastic  temperament,  unsparing  in 
gifts  and  sacrifices,  adventurous,  keenly  appreciative  of 
the  beginnings  of  great  enterprises,  of  warm  personal 
attachments,  with  the  heart  of  a  devotee  and  the  zeal 
of  a  popular  evangelist.  Both  are  profoundly  lamented. 
They  were  notable  and  notably  useful  men,  giving  about 


A  LONG  PASTORATE  ENDED.  295 

fifteen  years  each  to  the  dependent  churches.  They  were 
succeeded  in  the  superintendency  —  re-united  in  1882  — 
by  Rev.  Ephraim  Adams. 

Meantime  the  churches,  younger  and  older,  prospered 
every  way  under  their  tireless  and  wise  care.  The  thirty 
Congregational  Christians  of  1838  became  ten  thousand 
before  Father  Turner's  pastorate  ceased. 

The  General  Association  bore  useful  testimony  on  too 
many  topics  to  be  here  recited.  It  led  the  way  as  to 
church  separation  from  slavery  and  aid  of  new  frontier 
congregations  in  erecting  houses  of  worship  —  movements 
in  which  Messrs.  Holbrook  and  Emerson  were  prominent. 
It  favored  the  declaration  that  the  Plan  of  Union  had 
naturally  come  to  an  end,  and  the  forming  of  a  National 
Council.  Its  annual  assemblies  were  noted  for  unity, 
brotherly  heartiness,  and  a  warm,  devout  tone,  to  which 
the  removal  of  the  daily  prayer  exercise  from  an  earlier 
and  less  favorable  hour  to  the  middle  of  the  forenoon  — 
here  first  done  —  largely  contributed.  The  custom  began 
of  closing  the  last  session  Sunday  evening  annually  with 
singing  Dr.  Nelson's  sweet  hymn  and  prayer  by  Father 
Turner,  or,  in  his  absence,  by  the  oldest  minister  present. 

He  was  once  asked  the  secret  of  the  peculiar  and 
delightful  harmony  in  this  body.  With  a  twinkle  of 
his  eye,  he  replied :  "  Because  we  've  no  doctors  of 
divinity."  He  discouraged  the  college  trustees  in  mak- 
ing any.  Erelong,  however,  Williams,  Amherst,  the 
State  University,  and  other  institutions  began  to  drop 
scholastic  honors  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  Iowa  Col- 
lege slowly  followed,  those  of  her  constituency  honored 
being  the  Reverends  S.  D.  Cochran,  1867  ;  Lyman  Whit- 
ing, 1868  ;  J.  Guernsey,  1870 ;  G.  Thacher,  1871  ;  W.  W. 
Woodworth,  1879;  E.  Adams,  1882;  D.  Lane  and  H. 
Adams,  1887. 


296  ASA    TURNER. 

Another  was  once  asked :  "  Why  are  there  no  leaders 
in  this  Association  ?  '  "  Because  we  've  never  felt  the 
need  of  any,"  was  the  answer ;  "  Father  Turner  has 
been  the  most  of  one,  because  he  did  n't  care  to  be, 
but  only  tried  to  persuade  us  of  truth  and  right." 

Iowa  ministers  were  too  busy  with  church  and  evangel- 
izing work  for  much  authorship.  But  a  number  of  them 
wrote  for  Eastern  religious  journals,  perhaps  Messrs.  Hol- 
brook,  Cross,  Guernsey,  Salter,  Turner,  and  Magoun  most 
—  and  the  latter  for  reviews  and  volumes ;  many  of  them 
published  occasional  sermons  and  addresses ;  Dr.  Lane, 
a  Manual  of  Congregationalism  (having  been  a  college 
founder  and  a  professor,  at  the  request  of  the  trustees  he 
drew  up  the  "  Code  of  College  Laws,"  1871-84) ;  Dr. 
Holbrook,  a  small  volume ;  Dr.  E.  Adams,  a  sketch  of 
the  Iowa  Band;  and  Mr.  Salter,  Lives  of  Miss  Ada  M. 
Parker,  Hon.  James  W.  Grimes,  and  Rev.  J.  W.  Pickett, 
with  a  Hymn  and  Tune  Book  for  his  own  congregation. 

The  steady  flow  of  pastoral  experience  at  Denmark  is- 
photographed  in  the  following  extracts :  — 

Letter  to  Rev.  George  Clark,  February,  1860  :  "  I  have 
preached  every  night  for  ten  days,  and  three  times  on 
Sabbath.  I  can  preach  ten  days  more  as  I  have  done,  but 
I  think  more  would  attend  if  you  should  come." 

Funeral  Sermon,  March :  "  When  we  leave  this  world 
we  do  not  die,  but  live  right  on,  and  those  who  believe  in 
Jesus  never  die.  It  is  but  a  change  of  habitation.  A 
family  dwells  in  a  log  cabin  till  it  becomes  rotten,  leaky, 
and  dilapidated.  A  good  house,  comfortable  and  well 
furnished,  is  erected  near  by,  and  when  all  things  are 
ready  the  family  steps  out  of  the  old  cabin  into  the  new 
home.     Is  that  any  cause  for  mourning  ?  " 

Letter,  January,  1862 :  "  I  shall  be  unable  to  redeem 
my  pledge  [in  aid  of  the  college]  at  the  Association,  for 


A  LONG  PAS  TOE  ATE  ENDED.  297 

our  church  or  for  myself.  Our  house  is  burnt.  God 
withheld  the  rain  and  our  people  have  to  buy  corn.  And 
there  is  no  mone}^  here.  ...  I  have  wished  to  sell  my 
farm,  hoping  to  pay  my  debts  and  save  the  land  at  G., 
so  as  some  time  to  go  there.  But  there  is  no  sale  here, 
and  I  owe  between  four  thousand  and  forty-five  hun- 
dred dollars,  —  nearer  the  latter  sum,  —  at  ten  per  cent, 
interest,  most  of  it.  For  the  last  three  years  I  have  been 
unable  to  pay  any  interest.  Salary,  five  hundred  dollars, 
but  not  worth  five  hundred  dollars  in  money.  Our  people 
are  very  much  broken  up." 

October :  u  Our  young  men  leave  to  seek  homes,  and 
we  are  left  a  parcel  of  old  fossils.  Out  of  about  one  hun- 
dred liable  to  do  military  duty  in  our  fractional  township, 
we  have  about  sixty-five  in  the  army.  [A  son  and  son- 
in-law  were  among  them.1]  If  I  could  sell  my  place  and 
pay  my  debts,  I  would  be  willing  to  go  almost  anywhere, 
but  I  know  of  no  possible  way  to  do  it  till  the  times 
change." 

Paying  some  taxes  that  year  elsewhere,  he  could  find  no 
money  for  postage  stamps.  "  I  thought  we  were  wicked 
enough  in  this  county,  but  the  taxes  there  are  higher  in 
proportion.  People  poor ;  gave  their  notes  for  almost  the 
amount  to  rebuild,  leaving  off  steeple." 

September,  1864 :  "  I  wish  you  to  address  our  people 
on  what  your  eyes  saw  and  your  heart  felt  at  the  front.  I 
want  an  appeal  to  those  who  have  been  abiding  by  the 
stuff,  not  to  share  the  spoil,  but  the  burdens.  If  well-to-do 
farmers  and  business  men  would  give  one  tenth  of  their 
gains  this  year  in  consequence  of  the  war,  there  would  be 
no  lack  of  means  [to  prosecute  it].     My  heart   rejoices 

1  February,  1864.    They  were  in  Sherman's  expedition,  and  on  the  Big  Black, 

east  of  Vicksburg.     "A has  sent  me  his  bounty,  one  hundred  dollars;  and 

more  than  thirteen  dollars  a  month  since  he  has  been  in  the  service.    His  heart 
seems  to  be  set  on  helping  me  out  of  debt." 


298  ASA   TUBNEB. 

over  the  fall  of  Atlanta.  I  want  to  hear  about  Hood's 
army.     Hope  much  that  it  was  captured.     It  seems  the 

have  declared  their  purpose    to  make    war   on   the 

abolitionists,  and  not  stop  till  they  take  their  place  beside 
the  negroes.     I  am  in  for  the  war  to  the  end." 

December,  1865 :  "  Eighteen  of  our  church  enlisted, 
and  only  two  lost  their  lives.  All  have  been  back  but 
two.  I  don't  think  any  were  injured  essentially  in  their 
Christian  character ;  some  benefited ;  and  I  don't  know 
of  any  from  the  congregation  injured.  Such  as  had 
principle  when  they  left  brought  it  back,  and  such  as  did 
not  carry  any  away  with  them  did  not  bring  any  back. 
School  prospering.  ...  I  hope  Congress  will  rectify  the 
terrible  mistakes  of  Johnson.  How  sad  from  the  very 
sight  of  the  promised  land  to  go  back  into  the  wilder- 
ness ! " 

February,  1867 :  "  Have  not  preached  the  last  four 
Sabbaths.  Throat  is  better ;  sleep  better :  appetite  good. 
This  is  what  stumbles  me.  Sometimes  I  think  I  am  playing 
'possum,  and  will  go  to  work.  Preached  first  Sabbath  in 
January,  and  attended  meetings  week  of  prayer.  This 
little  effort  brought  me  clear  back,  or  worse.  So  I  stopped 
and  am  better ;  ashamed  to  be  called  sick.  A  man  that 
can  do  his  part  at  the  table  ought  to  be  in  the  field.  A 
good  deal  of  interest  all  the  fall.  Five  have  indulged 
hope.  A  better  state  of  feeling  among  students  than  I 
have  ever  seen  without  special  effort." 

April:  "  I  am  becoming  a  young  man.  Preached  three 
Sabbaths.  Throat  well.  All  the  difficulty  is  I  am  too 
young.  Pulse  90°  disqualifies  for  great  mental  or  bodily 
effort.  Academy  building  growing  like  Solomon's  tem- 
ple." 

October,  1868:  "Three  of  our  family  in  July  have  been 
called  up  higher  —  Mary  W.,  a  niece  of  Captain  S.,  our 


A  LONG  PASTORATE  ENDED.  299 

Mary,  and  little  Georgie."  Of  his  own  immediate  and 
painful  loss  he  said :  "  I  feel  that  it  was  manifestly  the 
Lord's  hand,  and  have  to  say  only,  i  Even  so,  Father,  for 
so  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight.'  Mrs.  Turner  is  wonder- 
fully supported,  though  very  feeble.  Seven  weeks  ago 
she  took  to  her  bed.     Is  able  to  sit  up  a  little." 

The  year  before,  anticipating  his  seventieth  year  of  age, 
he  had  proposed  the  calling  a  colleague  who  could  give 
half  his  time  to  the  academy,  continuing  himself  to  preach 
Sabbath  mornings  and  carry  on  the  pastoral  work,  or  else 
to  release  him  altogether.  The  former  proposition  was 
accepted  by  the  church,  and  a  pastor  in  rural  Massachu- 
setts called,  who  declined.  Action  was  now  delayed  for  a 
year,  the  pastor's  health  improving,  and  a  salary  of  seven 
hundred  dollars  voted.  In  1868  he  requested  President 
Edson  to  find  at  the  East  a  successor.  He  reported  the 
name  of  Rev.  E.  Y.  Swift,  of  Williamsburg,  Mass.,  who 
was  called  to  be  installed,  October  21,  his  predecessor  to 
be  dismissed  at  the  same  time.  The  patriarch  was  made 
Pastor  Emeritus.    His  service  had  overpassed  thirty  years. 

The  church  in  accepting  his  resignation  gave  "  most 
hearty  thanks  to  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  that  he 
has  continued  to  this  church,  from  its  infancy,  His 
under-shepherd,  and  has  crowned  his  ministry  among  us 
for  thirty  years  with  richest  and  unnumbered  blessings," 
assuring  Father  Turner  of  their  "  warmest  thanks  for  his 
faithfulness,  assiduities,  and  love  "  and  of  their  "  undimin- 
ished confidence  and  affection." 

The  dismissing  and  installing  council  recorded  "  their 
profound  emotions  of  gratitude  to  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church  for  the  grace  continued  to  his  servant  for  these 
many  years,  that  has  enabled  him  with  unwearied  assi- 
duity, patience,  and  devotion  to  make  full  proof  of  his 
ministry ;   to  meet  the  hardships  and  privations  of   the 


300  ASA   TUBNEB. 

first  settlement  of  the  country  with  fortitude  and  cheer- 
fulness; to  prosecute  missionary  labor  in  the  regions 
beyond  with  apostolic  energy  and  zeal ;  to  bear  a  promi- 
nent part  in  founding  institutions  of  learning ;  to  lead 
the  way  in  those  great  social  and  moral  reforms  by  which 
the  cause  of  liberty  and  just  government  has  been 
assured;  to  preach  the  gospel  in  season  and  out  of  sea- 
son with  evangelical  simplicity  and  warmth ;  being  abund- 
ant in  labor  and  ready  to  every  good  work ;  in  doctrine 
showing  uncorruptness,  and  in  life  and  conversation  being 
an  example  to  the  flock."  They  assured  him  of  "  the 
sincere  and  grateful  respect '  of  "  neighboring  churches 
and  ministers."  Hardly  less  could  have  been  said  of  those 
of  all  Iowa. 


XXXV. 


THE   DECLINE   OF   LIFE. 


Very  fortunate  are  aged  servants  of  Christ,  the  tender 
love  and  gratitude  of  whose  children  provides  a  home  of 
comfort  and  cheer  for  them  when  their  active  days  of 
work  for  his  Church  are  over.  It  was  nearly  the  early 
summer  of  the  next  year  after  the  pastorate  closed  when 
Father  Turner  and  the  dear  wife  of  his  youth  and  age, 
greatly  honored  by  all  who  knew  her,  were  able  to  remove 
from  Denmark  to  the  hospitable  and  attractive  home  of 
their  son-in-law,  Captain  Charles  P.  Searle,  at  Oskaloosa. 
It  had  been  proposed  among  his  old  flock  to  give  him 
a  small  salary  as  Pastor  Emeritus,  that  his  last  days  and 
his  grave  might  be  among  them.  His  answer  was  char- 
acteristic :  "  You  can  not  afford  it."  Yet  there  is  a  quiet 
and  manly  pathos  in  his  writing  another  of  the  pulling  up 
of  a  tree  whose  roots  had  been  growing  in  the  same  soil 
thirty  years,  and  in  his  confession  :  "  I  don't  know  what 
to  do  with  myself.  To  preach  and  to  prepare  for  it  were 
my  delight  —  my  daily  food."  Years  after  he  testified  to 
a  younger  minister : 1  "  It  is  a  great  privilege  to  have 
been  employed  in  His  work,  and  will  outlast  all  tempo- 
ral things.  If  I  was  to  live  my  life  over  again,  I  should 
not  want  any  better  work  than  preaching  the  gospel,  or 
any  better  place  to  do  it  in  than  Iowa.  You  are  doing 
a  work  here  that  will  *  on  ages  tell.'  All  I  lament  is  that 
all  my  work  was  done  so  imperfectly." 

1  Four  years  later,  declining  an  Invitation  to  make  an  address  at  Denmark,  he 
said :  **  Sundering  so  many  ties  makes  a  heavy  draught.  ...  It  is  only  a  new 
resurrection  and  a  new  death.  It  costs  us  both  too  much.  I  don't  think  I  am  the 
person  to  make  the  address." 


302  ASA    TUBNEB. 

He  passed  quietly  and  genially  into  the  home,  church, 
and  social  life  at  Oskaloosa,  where  the  people  felt  that  his 
coming  was  a  benediction,  and  his  juniors  in  the  ministry 
greeted  him  as  an  apostle.  In  some  business  transaction 
at  Denmark  he  had  said  of  his  being  a  minister :  "  They 
may  question  my  right  to  be  called  such.  I  mean,  how- 
ever, to  preach  where  the  Lord  shall  give  me  a  place, 
and  I  wish  to  be  numbered  with  them  while  I  live."  He 
was,  with  affectionate  and  reverential  joy,  in  all  denom- 
inations. 

Eight  years  after  he  wrote  Principal  Edson  in  a  strain 
of  touching  humility  of  his  work  and  his  resignation 
which  can  not  here  be  given  in  full.  "  It  was  a  great 
trial,  and  one  none  can  know  but  by  experience.  .  .  . 
While  I  have  never  recovered  from  the  separation,  never 
felt  at  rest  without  a  special  work  before  my  mind, 
and  never  expect  to,  I  think  I  acted  in  accordance 
with  duty  and  the  best  good  of  the  church.  .  .  .  My 
going  to  Denmark,  I  believe,  was  of  God.  He  could 
use  such  a  weak  instrument  then,  when  the  country 
was  new.  My  going  away  was  clearly  of  his  provi- 
dence. The  change  has  been  a  great  blessing  to  my 
health,  and  in  some  respects  to  my  comfort.  Religion 
becomes  more  and  more  a  comfort  to  me,  and  while  I 
am  ashamed  that  I  know  so  little  of  its  power,  I  still 
desire  above  all  things  to  see  God's  kingdom  come  in  the 
world.  I  have  felt,  and  do  now,  that  it  was  one  of  the 
favors  of  God  that  he  sent  you  to  Denmark,  and  that 
I  was  permitted  to  be  associated  with  you  so  long,  and 
may  God  in  his  infinite  mercy  permit  me  to  have  my 
portion  with  you  and  the  dear  ones  that  have  gone  from 
Denmark  in  the  church  above." 

Mrs.  Turner's  health  also  was  improved.  No  mother 
who  reads  this,  and  who  knows  what  a  home  may  be  made 


THE  DECLINE   OF  LIFE.  303 

for  such  a  mother  in  a  daughter's  family,  will  ask  why, 
before  the  change,  he  "  had  no  expectations  she  could 
long  survive,  and  felt  [he]  could  not  bear  to  be  left 
there  alone '  in  the  old  parsonage  to  which  so  many 
Christian  friends  had  come  in  the  passing  years  and 
from  which  their  children  had  gone  forth. 

One  of  the  first  uses  of  his  leisure  contemplated  was 
a  visit  to  Santa  Barbara,  Cal.,  where  his  oldest  daughter, 
married  in  Iowa,  was  an  active  and  original  member  of 
"the  southwesternmost  Congregational  church  in  the 
United  States,  planted  by  the  A.  H.  M.  S."  a  year  or 
two  before.  In  a  few  months  he  went,  accompanied  by 
a  long-time  friend,  Seth  Richards,  Esq. 

He  appreciated  to  the  full  the  climate  and  scenery  of 
the  wondrous  Pacific  Coast.  "After  asking  the  blessing 
at  the  dinner  table,"  says  his  daughter  living  there,  "  his 
eyes  would  light  upon  our  mountains,  as  he  raised  his 
head.  With  streaming  tears  and  choking  voice  he  would 
say :  *  O  blessed  Santa  Barbara  !  haven  for  the  weary  and 
suffering,  did  God  ever  make  another  spot  so  beautiful  ? ' 
What  strength,  what  pleasure  was  ours,  shut  in  from  all 
the  world  by  the  mountains,  from  the  delightful  air  and 
the  play  of  light  and  shade  upon  them,  standing  in 
neutral  tints  clear-cut  against  the  azure  sky,  and  how 
transfigured  even  life  itself  by  the  setting  sun  and  the 
little  patches  of  fog  that  drifted  hither  and  thither  in  the 
canyons.  He  thought  he  knew  nothing  of  art:  he  was 
nature's  most  sacred  priest,  appreciating  unconsciously 
every  phase  of  her  beauty.  Did  you  ever  see  him  stand 
and  look  upon  the  orchard  in  full  bloom  till  his  pleasure 
was  so  great  he  would  clasp  his  hands  with  delight  ?  "  Of 
a  Santa  Barbara  Sabbath  he  would  say :  "  It  is  one  of 
God's  own  days.  Will  I  ever,  this  side  of  heaven,  see 
any  so  perfect  ?  " 


304  ASA   TUBNEB. 

Glimpses  of  what  he  busied  himself  with,  his  letters  to 
his  wife  will  give.  He  has  been  called  "  a  born  evangel- 
ist ; '  he  was  certainly  u  born  again  "  into  this  vocation. 
He  writes  of  invalids  at  Santa  Barbara,  and  specially  of  a 
consumptive  wife  from  New  York. 

April  11,  1870  :  "  A  Christian  and  ready  to  die.  Very 
low;  a  great  sufferer;  her  husband  wholly  disconsolate; 
refused  to  be  comforted.  He  had  come  in  hope  she  would 
be  spared  to  him,  but  now  he  must  give  her  up  in  this 
strange  land.  I  urged  him  to  give  himself  up  to  Christ, 
and  then  he  would  be  willing  to  give  up  his  wife." 

"  Saturday  I  called  again.  She  was  more  comfortable. 
She  said  he  had  agreed  to  kneel  down  by  her  bed,  while 
prayer  should  be  offered  for  him.  He  knelt,  his  head 
resting  on  her  bosom,  and  her  arm  around  his  neck.  I 
then  committed  them  to  God ;  asked  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
take  possession  of  the  husband,  and  hear  the  prayer  of 
the  dying  wife.  Quite  a  while  after  I  arose,  he  remained 
kneeling,  her  arm  embracing  him.  He  arose  converted, 
and  I  counseled  him  and  left. 

u  Yesterday  called  again ;  she  was  comfortable,  and 
seemed  happy,  and  he  thinks  he  has  given  his  heart  to 
Christ. 

"  As  I  returned  Saturday,  a  man  drove  up  to  the  door 
to  sell  a  load  of  wood.  I  spoke  to  him.  He  asked  me  if 
my  name  was  Turner.  I  said  it  was.  He  sprang  forward 
and  grasped  my  hand  with  deep  affection.  •  Don't  you 
know  me?  You  attended  the  funeral  of  my  child  last 
week.'  A  little  girl  six  years  old ;  five  miles  out  of  town. 
The  parents  with  the  dead  daughter,  and  each  a  child, 
and  a  few  neighbors,  just  enough  to  bury  the  dead.  I 
felt  that  the  Lord  assisted  me  to  speak  to  them,  and  when 
we  parted  at  the  graveyard  he  said  he  would  give  his 
heart  to  Christ.  He  told  me  Saturday  he  thought  he 
had." 


THE  DECLINE   OF  LIFE.  305 

On  returning  to  Iowa,  he  found  the  steamer  from  Santa 
Barbara  would  not  get  into  San  Francisco  till  Sunday, 
and  gave  up  going  till  the  next  boat.  "  My  visit  was  out, 
and  it  did  not  seem  that  I  could  wait;  but  I  thought  I 
could  not  afford  to  sin.  I  feel  this  morning  that  I  did 
right,  although  the  people  may  laugh  at  my  superstition. 
I  wish  to  keep  a  conscience  void  of  offence.  My  short- 
comings and  sins  are  enough  without  adding  to  them. 
By  staying  till  Thursday,  I  shall  be  able  to  get  into  San 
Francisco,  Saturday  a.m.  But  it  will  delay  me  one  week 
on  my  return,  as  I  can  not  leave  Sacramento  till  Monday, 
and  not  travel  on  the  Sabbath.  You  will  be  disappointed, 
but  not  more  so  than  I  am,  and  need  not  be  assured  that 
it  is  not  out  of  any  want  of  love  to  you  and  the  dear  chil- 
dren left  behind." 

"Peach-trees  are  just  in  blossom.  Apple-trees  on  the 
ranch  last  week  had  not  swelled  their  buds.  The  diffi- 
culty is,  they  kept  it  up  so  late  last  fall  and  winter.  They 
are  like  city  folks  who  sit  up  so  late  at  night  they  have  to 
lie  in  bed  next  morning." 

At  Burlington  next  year  he  was  pleading  the  cause 
of  the  college  and  of  the  academy  (which  was  in  danger 
of  losing  an  invaluable  teacher).  Later,  the  academy 
emergency  again  called  him  out.  His  judgment  of  the 
relation  of  the  two  institutions  again  finds  expression. 
He  was  now  living  between  the  two,  and  his  prayers  were 
many  and  sympathies  strong.  "  We  ought  to  have  built 
academies  before  we  did  colleges.  Our  denomination 
needs  six  or  eight  in  this  state,  or  will  soon.  East  Col- 
lege, Grinnell,  burnt  down  Saturday.  No  particulars." 
Neither  poverty  nor  calamity  chilled  his  zeal  for  either 
institution.     His  letters  are  full  of  academy  plans.1 

JOn  his  second  visit  to  California,  he  secured  a  gift  of  Kansas  lands  to  the 
acailemv  worth  some  ten  thousand  dollars. 


306  ASA   TUBNEB. 

January,  1872 :  "  Health  quite  recovered ;  commenced 
my  work  again  in  the  Welsh  church." 

February,  1872 :  "  I  preach  at Depot.     Commenced 

December  17.  Took  up  contribution  yesterday ;  about 
twenty  dollars  for  the  time.  Not  extravagant  wages ! 
One  dollar  and  fifty  cents  a  week,  with  two  and  a  half 
miles'  travel  every  Sabbath  morning.  Well,  it  occupies 
my  mind,  and  I  am  happier  than  to  do  nothing.  I  miss 
old  Fannie.  She  ran  awav  last  November.  Have  heard 
nothing  of   her.     Have  to  get  a  horse."  1 

After  attending  the  Methodist  Conference  in  1872,  and 
noticing  the  effectiveness  of  the  system  and  authority 
employed,  while  observing  that  "  Scripture  don't  give 
the  authority,"  he  wrote  Principal  Edson  his  wish 
that  ministers  and  people  among  Congregationalists  could 
be  better  kept  together.  "We  need  the  Spirit  poured  out 
upon  them,  what  Brother  Finney  has  been  writing  about 
in  The  Independent.  I  could  not  but  think  the  Metho- 
dist plan  of  raising  up  ministers  the  best,  after  all.  If 
they  have  native  talent  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  they  can  do 
>  good.  If  they  have  not,  three  years  will  be  likely  to 
discover  it.  And  if  they  have  all  the  learning  in  the 
world  it  won't  be  worth  much  without  the  Spirit.  My 
conviction  for  many  years  has  been  that  what  I  needed 
was  the  blessed  Spirit  of  God  in  my  heart.  Professor 
Bartlett's  sermon  before  the  American  Board  at  New 
Haven  is  noble.  It  is  what  the  churches  need  —  will  do 
good." 

It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  he  would  not  have  any 
Congregational  ministers  thoroughly  educated. 

In  October,  1873,  he  visited  California  again,  Mrs. 
Turner   and    a    daughter    accompanying.      Rev.    J.     W. 

1  To  a  Denmark  friend :  "  I  have  bargained  away  our  place.    I  feel  sad  to  give 
up  the  last  spot  of  earth.    But  soon  we  shall  leave  all  below." 


THE  DECLINE   OF  LIFE.  307 

Hough,  D.D.,   then   preaching   at   Santa   Barbara,    writes 
from  Paris,  France  :  — 

u  The  church  was  sharing  the  quickened  life  which  had 
come  to  the  dreamy,  half-Spanish  town  with  the  influx  of 
Eastern  people,  and  now  numbered  forty  or  fifty  members. 
Father  Turner  at  once  interested  himself  in  the  work  and 
growth  of  the  little  church  in  a  manner  so  easy  and 
natural  as  to  be  wholly  free  from  any  suggestion  of 
omciousness  or  self-assertion  —  in  a  manner  which  seemed 
the  simple  expression  of  the  fact  that  wherever  he  dwelt 
the  Church  of  Christ  was  his  home,  and  that  it  was  the 
habit  of  his  life  to  be  busy  about  his  Father's  business. 
His  large  experience  among  the  struggling  churches  of 
Iowa  enabled  him  at  once  to  grasp  the  situation  and 
appreciate  the  needs  of  the  young  church  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  The  pastor  speedily  found  in  him  a  sympathizing 
friend,  a  willing  helper,  an  unobtrusive  and  wise  coun- 
selor. The  Sabbath  service  knew  him  as  a  constant 
attendant  and  an  appreciative  listener.  The  little  prayer- 
meeting,  held  at  one  and  another  private  house,  came 
quickly  to  recognize  him  as  part  of  itself.  His  large « 
acquaintance  with  the  sacred  Word,  his  spiritual  insight, 
his  deep,  rich  Christian  experience,  and  at  times  his 
quaint,  quiet  humor,  rendered  his  share  in  the  services 
especially  stimulating  and  helpful.  He  found  presently  a 
parish  of  his  own  among  the  large  number  of  invalids; 
walking  or  riding  with  some  on  the  sunshiny,  midwinter 
days,  and  ministering  with  words  of  sympathy  and  conso- 
lation at  the  bedside  of  others,  who  had  come  to  that 
mildest  of  climes  too  late  for  the  coveted  restoration. 
He  entered  easily  into  social  life,  but  carried  with  hinr 
every-where  the  impression  and  the  influence  of  a  man 
who  walked  with  God,  all  in  all  not  unlike  the  sunshine 
of  the  sunny  land  to  which  he  came,  warm,  bright,  genial, 
gentle,  a  blessing  and  a  benediction." 


308  ASA    TUB  NEB. 

Santa  Barbara,  November,  1873 :  "  Forty-three  years 
ago  last  summer,  my  wife  promised  to  go  with  me  wher- 
ever duty  called,  if  it  was  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  That 
was  in  Boston  on  the  Atlantic.  Now  we  are  in  plain  view 
of  the  Pacific,  and  I  am  willing  to  regard  her  vow  ful- 
filled, and  not  require  her  to  go  at  least  any  farther  West. 
In  coming  down  two  hundred  and  forty  miles  we  had  the 
experience  of  the  patriarchs  renewed  ;  camped  as  best  we 
could,  but  no  frosts,  little  cultivated  land ;  scarcely  any 
thing  but  stage-stations.  One  man  owns  fifty  thousand 
acres.  Another  has  twelve  million  dollars,  living  without 
God  and  without  hope  in  the  world ;  his  body  diseased 
and  enfeebled  —  what  is  it  worth  to  him  ?  The  land  all 
the  way  used  for  pasture.  Very  dry  and  dusty.  People 
are  trying  to  have  wind-mills.  Mr.  Richards  and  family 
we  expect  this  week.  The  Sabbath  is  not  remembered  by 
multitudes." 

December,  1873  :  "  Never  more  busy  in  my  life.  All  I 
want  is  a  heart  to  do  the  will  of  our  beloved  Master  —  to 
comfort  and  help  all  I  can."  Among  the  numerous 
invalids  he  found  a  brother  of  John  Brown,  a  second 
cousin    of    Dr.    Enoch    Pond,    and   a    highly    cultivated 

physician  from  B ,  N.  Y.,  u  a  great  student,  of  Mill's 

cast  of  mind."  To  several  invalids,  "  the  idea  of  a  vica- 
rious atonement  was  abhorrent."  One  "imbued  with 
spiritualism,  Unitarianism,  and  Universalism,"  another 
"did  not  need  a  Bible." 

April,  1874  (Mrs.  Turner  to  Mrs.  C,  Oberlin,  Ohio)  : 
"  A  pleasant  winter  here.  Fogs  now,  which  are  not 
pleasant.  It  has  not  been  so  cold  but  that  I  could  go 
into  the  garden  and  pick  a  bouquet  any  day.  Such  roses 
I  have  never  seen  anywhere.  It  is  wonderful  what  an 
amount  of  flowers  can  be  raised  on  a  little  bit  of 
ground.     I    never  tire    of    writing   about   them    and    the 


THE  DECLINE   OF  LIFE,  309 

mosses  we  gather  at  the  beach.  There  is  a  calla  in  our 
garden  on  which  I  counted  fifteen  blossoms,  very  large. 
My  health  has  been  much  better." 

Father  Turner  to  Mr.  C,  with  a  Massachusetts  farmer's 
and  a  Western  fruit-grower's  eye,  writes  of  a  plant  "  as 
hard  and  solid  as  Osage-orange  or  locust,  and  grows  very 
fast.  Orchards  two  or  three  years  old  bear  wonderfully. 
Grapes  grow  or  bear  almost  before  they  are  set  cut ! 
Barley  and  wheat  very  stout.  It  is  pleasant  to  see  roses, 
lilies,  etc.,  all  winter,  almonds  in  blossom  in  January. 
This  is  poor  land,  not  equal  to  much  other  land.  .  .  .  The 
climate  is  very  enjoyable  to  old  people  and  invalids.  The 
place  has  grown  wonderfully  in  four  years.  Church  seats 
about  two  hundred,  usually  filled;  a  noble  minister.  I 
have  preached  occasionally,  as  I  had  opportunity ;  but 
with  a  three  thousand  dollar  minister,  a  congregation 
could  hardly  be  satisfied  with  an  old,  worn-out  home 
missionary.  Have  been  down  to.  San  Diego.  Counted 
forty  saloons  in  a  population  of  twenty-five  hundred. 
Called  at  Los  Angeles,  a  city  of  some  fifteen  thousand. 
A  movement  here  for  local  option." 

Revivals  at  the  East  occupy  the  rest  of  the  letter.1 

Oskaloosa,  October,  1874:  "In  almost  three  thousand 

miles  out  and  back,  not  a  single  accident  or  delay.     God 

has   given   friends   on  the    way   and   friends   there,    and 

friends  every-where.  .  .  .  But  my  lungs  are  so  susceptible, 

JThe  Methodists  of  Santa  Barbara  holding  special  services,  he  preached  for 
them  some.  "Our  minister  is  a  very  superior  man,  one  of  the  best  preachers 
it  was  ever  my  lot  to  listen  to  for  any  length  of  time.  I  feel  interested  and  fed." 
On  a  visit  to  San  Diego,  he  was  directed  to  the  Baptist  church  as  the  Presbyterian. 
"Sermon  very  good;  and  communion  immediately  following.  No  invitation  was 
given,  but  we  thought  it  was  the  Lord's  table  and  we  would  eat  with  our  Presby- 
terian cousins.  I  have  become  a  Baptist  of  the  straitest  sect!  During  the  week 
apologized  to  the  Elder  for  our  ignorant  sincerity."  He  was  deeply  interested  in 
the  temperance  issue  in  California.  At  a  risk  of  losing  two  thousand  dollars  in 
his  business  the  owner  of  the  Santa  Barbara  wharf  was  advocating  local  option. 
He  wrote  election  day :  "  My  wife  is  out  as  spry  as  a  young  girl,  going  up  to 
wagons  and  men  as  they  come  in,  and  offering  them  temperance  votes." 


310  ASA    TURNER. 

I  must  avoid  exposures  —  must  be  content  to  be  nobody's 
nothing.  When  I  was  coming  down  Platte  Valley,  I  did 
not  feel  the  least  tired  with  all  my  trip — judged  myself 
about  sixty.  But  my  cold  soon  carried  up  my  age  to 
ninety,  and  where  it  will  leave  me,  don't  know.  Your  air 
has  not  the  California  tonic  for  old  limbs.  But  I  must  be 
content.  .  .  .  Iowa  is  a  good  soil  to  raise  up  inhabitants 
for  the  Celestial  City,  and  I  believe  there  is  a  better 
country  than  California,  even  a  heavenly.  Am  rejoiced 
to  hear  of  your  prosperity.  May  God  work  in  the  hearts 
of  teachers  and  scholars.  Men  are  useless  only  as  God 
works  through  them,  and  will  never  carry  forward  his 
cause  only  as  he  works  in  them." 

Other  letters  of  this  year  to  his  yoke-fellow  at  Denmark 
disclose  his  wide  and  quick  interest  in  all  that  was  going 
on  in  all  lands,  especially  all  that  touched  the  cause  of 
Christ,  in  England,  Scotland,  France,  Spain,  Italy, 
Turkey,  China,  Japan,  and  in  the  work  of  American 
evangelists  abroad.  The  death  of  his  class-mate,  Henry 
Durant,  in  California,  and  the  memoir  of  his  townsman, 
Dr.  William  Goodell,  deeply  moved  him.  Absolute  de- 
pendence on  God  for  all  good  was  his  key-note. 

1876  :  "  Dear  Brother  S ,  A  dearth  of   news  from 

Denmark  of  late.  Don't  know  whether  you  are  in  the 
world  or  out  of  the  world.  The  bottom  has  fallen  out 
here,  and  whether  we  shall  stop  this  side  of  China  remains 
to  be  seen.  Mud  !  mud !  Our  children  [in  Polk  County] 
have  been  quite  blessed  this  winter.  Seven  united  with 
their  little  church. 

"  Our  nation  needs  purifying.  .  .  .  But  don't  be 
alarmed !  This  nation  has  a  work  yet  to  do  for  the 
world,  even  if  God  has  to  heat  the  furnace  seven  times 
hotter.  .  .  .  You  see  the  ground  the  ex-Confederates 
take  —  that   they  have    all   the    time  been    loyal   to  the 


THE  DECLINE   OF  LIFE.  311 

nation  our  fathers  planted  ;  that  the  fanatics  of  the 
North  drove  them  into  rebellion  ;  that  we  are  not  a 
nation,  but  a  conglomeration  of  states ;  and  it  is  not 
treason  to  secede ;  the  crime  was  in  not  being  able  to 
do  it  successfully"  "Revival  among  the  Quakers  only. 
Most  of  them,  with  the  good  spirit  in  their  hearts,  act 
just  like  other  Christians  under  the  same  influence.  .  .  . 
Mother  and  her  two  sisters  (from  the  East)  do  enjoy 
themselves  hugely  this  winter."  Passing  the  next  winter 
at  Hartford,  Conn.,  he  wrote :  — 

February,  1877  :  "  I  have  been  greatly  interested  in  the 
work  at  Chicago  and  Boston.  Shall  we  look  on  these 
wonderful  things  as  harbingers  of  good  times  to  come? 
Who  of  us  has  believed  more  than  a  little  of  the  surface 
of  the  gospel  ?  Oh,  the  heights  and  depths  of  God's 
wonderful  plan  to  save  rebellious  man !  I  know  less 
and  less  of  it  the  more  I  try  to  study  it. 

"  Brother  Edson  writes  me  of  a  good  work  in  the 
academy.  I  am  older  than  I  was  ten  years  ago.  My 
cough  has  troubled  me  more  than  ever  before.  Hartford 
is  a  pleasant  city,  with  a  great  many  cultivated  people 
and  rich.  Still,  I  am  thoroughly  Westernized,  and  with 
all  the  discomforts  of  Iowa,  the  real  comforts  to  me 
abound  there."  He  said  to  a  friend  that  he  "dreaded 
the  thought  of  dying  anywhere  but  in  Iowa,"  and  was 
"anxious  to  lay  his  bones  there."* 

Mrs.  Turner  wrote  from  her  birthplace :  "  He  finds  it 
dull.  But  he  is  very  cheerful.  I  hope  we  may  be  per- 
mitted to  go  to  Iowa  in  the  spring,  for  I  am  too  much 
a  Western  woman  to  enjoy  society  here." 

The  death,  before  his  return,  of  the  last  of  the  Denmark 
founders  led  him  to  say :  "  I  must  hurry  up,  or  all  my 
friends  will  get  home  before  me."  Then  came  the 
solemn  reflection :  "  One  more  has  gone   to  report  con- 


312  ASA   TUENEB. 

cerning  my  stewardship  of  the  manifold  grace  of  God, 
...  It  is  a  comfort  to  me  that  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  imperfect  service  and  imperfect  faith  and  love  can 
be  accepted.  We  all  come  at  last  to  one  point,  —  no 
matter  what  our  position  or  work,  —  sinners  saved  by 
grace." 

Concerning  his  aged  friend  just  deceased  he  had  been 
comforted  the  summer  previous  by  "  his  increased  interest 
in  the  soul's  concerns.  I  hoped  then  that  God  was- 
preparing  him  for  a  better  inheritance." 


XXXVI. 


THE   END. 


One  is  manifestly  preparing  to  exchange  worlds  when 
he  can  say  :  "  I  have  had  to  cut  loose  from  earth  in  every 
way  I  could,  so  I  could  be  ready  at  any  moment."  "  I  have 
got  where  I  can  see  the  things  of  earth  about  as  they  are. 
The  atmosphere  around  is  clear.  And  earthly  things  look 
so  transient  as  to  be  worth  little  care  and  labor.  I  have 
been  thinking  that  probably  God  means  to  convert  Japan ; 
and  through  its  people  China  and  the  old  Asiatic  nations.'* 

His  profound  lowliness  was  a  marked  feature  of  his 
Christian  growth,  blended  always  with  intense  longings 
for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom :  "  I  can  not  say  with  Mr. 
Moody  that  I  know  I  am  saved ;  still  I  can  say  I  know 
I  desire  God's  kingdom  may  come."  "  I  want  to  live  till 
as  a  nation  we  return  to  our  loyalty  to  God."  "I  don't 
feel  personally  that  we  ought  to  be  anxious  about  any 
thing  but  to  do  his  will.  I  feel  I  am  not  worthy  to  be 
called  a  disciple,  I  have  been  so  ignorant,  so  unbelieving, 
so  stupid,  so  brutish.  I  see  more  and  more  of  the  won- 
derful, glorious  gospel." 

"  I  surely  don't  know  whose  will  I  wish" done  with  me 
if  not  God's.  Surely  I  don't  wish  my  own.  I  have  not 
wisdom  or  knowledge  enough." 

"  I  don't  know  as  I  am  '  called,'  but  I  do  think  I  love 
God,  and  am  willing  he  should  do  with  me  now  and 
forever  what  he  sees  fit  to  do.  Only  one  thing  man 
needs  —  in  the  inner  man,  to  be  renewed."  "I  feel 
more  and  more  what  a  little  creature  man  is,   and  how 


314  ASA    TUBNEB. 

little  are  all  his  works.  I  used  to  feel  I  was  of  some 
importance,  but  God  has  opened  my  eyes  in  a  measure, 
and  I  begin  to  realize  'a  little  cloud  which  appeareth 
and  vanisheth  away.'  If  God  would  only  burn  up  in  us 
all  the  wood,  hay,  and  stubble." 

He  had  unspeakable  content  in  his  heavenly  Father's 
dealings  with  him.  His  testimony  to  this  is  incessant. 
"All  I  wish  to  ask  for  is  put  into  the  Lord's  Prayer." 
"  In  regard  to  old  age,  I  have  every  thing  to  be  thankful 
for:  —  (1)  That  I  have  not  a  wife  in  heaven,  but  on  earth; 
(2)  Children  who  do  all  for  me  that  children  can  do  ;  and 
a  great  many  kind  Christian  friends." 

u  I  don't  expect  to  go  to  heaven  till  I  am  fitted  for  it." 
"About  your  going  to  Europe,  I  don't  know.  But  for 
me,  I  had  rather  take  passage  in  the  old  ship  Zion  towards 
the  new  Jerusalem.  I  want  to  get  there.  I  have  a  great 
many  friends  who  have  passed  over,  and  to  meet  them, 
and  to  have  a  great  many  things  made  plain  I  do  not 
understand,  and  to  feel  my  eternity  is  made  sure  through 
grace  —  what  a  blessing !  Perhaps  my  poor  cold  heart 
will  be  warmed  up  to  sing  the  song  of  Moses  and  the 
Lamb,  and  I  shall  be  able  to  sing."     (A  gift  denied  him.) 

His  letters  often  end  thus  :  "  Victor  Emmanuel  is  a  loss 
to  the  world.  God  can  do  without  him,  and  without  any 
other  man."  "  Alas  !  for  the  poor  Turks  and  the  Russians 
and  all  those  nations  that  know  so  little  of  God.  And 
alas !  for  the  poor  United  States,  so  little  disposed  to  fear 
God  and  give  glory  to  him." 

To  the  last  this  unflagging  interest  in  affairs  continued. 
When  ability  to  read  was  gone,  Mrs.  Turner  (and  when 
she  failed  him,  some  one  else)  read  through  the  daily 
paper  to  him.  "  Do  you  get  any  light  on  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Mohammedans  ?  "  he  asked  the  writer,  as  he 
suddenly  entered  his  room.  "  I  've  been  praying  for  it 
the  past  two  weeks." 


•    THE  END.  315 

To  one  who  wrote  of  his  forgiving  others  he  replied : 
"  I  had  for  a  long  time  loved  you  and  trusted  in  you ;  but 
on  the  receipt  of  your  last,  I  loved  you  much  more  than 
ever  before." 

To  another :  "  There  is  no  good  thing  in  us,  save  as 
divine  grace  produces  it,  and  it  looks  very  bad  for  us  to 
throw  stones.  Those  who  do  the  most  forgiving,  the  most 
healing,  will  be  the  favored  ones.  Be  not  among  the 
sinners,  but  those  sinned  against.  You  have  a  glorious 
opportunity  to  honor  the  gospel  and  Christ." 

To  the  widow  of  an  early  citizen :  "  In  many  places 
they  have  Old  Settlers'  meetings.  If  I  ever  get  to  heaven 
I  should  like  to  have  one  there,  that  we  might  together 
confess  our  follies  and  short-comings,  and  recount  the 
long-suffering  of  God  towards  us.  I  feel  I  am  near  the 
journey's  end.  I  do  not  pray  God  to  prolong  my  life,  but 
by  his  grace  to  fit  me  for  the  Canaan  we  love.  I  can't 
say  my  affections  cling  to  this  world.  I  enjoy  the  comfort 
and  food  and  shelter  necessary  for  me  here,  but  why 
should  I  get  a  great  load  of  earthly  things  on  my  back 
and  make  my  journey  so  much  harder  ?  ' 

"  The  Bible  shines  with  a  light  I  used  not  to  see.  The 
plan  of  salvation  through  God  manifest  in  the  flesh  has  a 
glory  about  it  I  did  not  know.  It  is  wonderful,  wonderful ! 
Mystery  of  mysteries  !  All  I  can  do  is  to  receive  it,  as  far 
as  my  little  mind  will  allow,  cast  all  my  hopes  for  eternity 
upon  it,  —  saved  or  lost,  —  risk  all  on  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God,  who  takes  away  the  sin  of  the  world.  .  .  . 
It  all  comes  round  to  this,  a  sinner  saved  by  grace,  if 
saved  at  all.  As  to  earthly  good,  we  have  enough,  we  hope, 
for  our  passage.  All  the  riches  and  all  the  honors  of  the 
world  have  their  values  depreciated  as  we  approach 
eternity." 

Years  of  invalidism  followed,  the  details  of  which  can 


316  ASA    TUBNEB. 

not  be  recited  with  interest.  The  gentle  and  winning 
presence  that  had  been  by  his  side  since  the  perilous  ride 
on  the  burning  prairies  of  Illinois  in  1830  was  still  his 
exceeding  comfort  and  stay,  and  every  want  was  antici- 
pated. It  had  added  charm  to  his  hearty  hospitality  for 
a  generation  at  Denmark,  and  now  touched  with  motherly 
grace  the  waning  activities  and  waste  places  of  age.  Long 
before  feebleness  and  disease  came,  the  two  helpers  of 
each  other  and  of  all  about  them  had  been  affectionately 
coupled  as  "  Father  and  Mother  Turner r  throughout 
Iowa.  As  the  meeting  of  General  Association  approached 
one  year  he  wrote  a  letter  of  tender  recollection  to  its 
members,  in  which  he  spoke  of  himself  as  "  about  to  be 
introduced  into  his  future  home."  The  body  responded 
with  loving  reverence  through  Messrs.  D.  Lane  and  E.  P. 
Smith,  and  while  he  yet  lingered  for  half  a  dozen  years 
remembered  him  annually  in  united  prayer.  A  paralytic 
stroke  came  in  1878.  Mrs.  Turner  wrote  :  "  I  don't  think 
he  will  ever  be  so  well  again ;  his  cough  must  in  time 
wear  him  out ;  and  he  may  have  other  attacks  of  paral- 
ysis." A  few  days  after  the  shock  the  writer  called 
upon  him.  Rising  to  say  "  Good-by,"  and  attempting  in 
vain  to  use  his  drooping  right  hand,  he  said,  with  diffi- 
culty :  "  I  can  t-t-tell  you  what  you  c-c-can't  t-tell  me." 
"You  can  tell  me  many  such  things,  Father  Turner  ;  what 
is  it  ?  "  "  Why,  w-w-what  the  p-p-palsy  is."  "  Well,  what 
is  it  ?  "  The  old-time  twinkle  was  in  his  eye :  "  It  is  j-j-just 
l-l-laziness  struck  in" 

The  more  helpless  he  became,  the  more  tenderly  grateful 
he  was.  In  the  last  of  his  days  he  would  often  send  for 
the  daughter  with  whom  his  home  was,  to  thank  her  again 
and  again  and  yet  again.  Once,  forgetting  to  do  so  when 
she  appeared,  he  spoke  of  himself  as  needing  so  much 
care  — -  "  a  nuisance."     His  own  mother-wit  came  back  to 


Mrs.  Martha  B.  Turner. 


(See  page  ::15.) 


THE  END.  317 

him  in  the  quick  reply  :  "  Well,  father,  you  're  better  than 
most  nuisances  ;  you  know  you  are  one." 

In  1881,  a  large  album  came  from  Denmark  with  many 
well-known  faces  in  it,  and  fifty  letters  from  the  dear  old 
flock.  "  It  recalls  old  times  so  forcibly,"  wrote  Mrs. 
Turner,  "  that  the  tears  will  come  ;  and  we  can  assure 
you,  one  and  all,  that,  while  we  live  and  have  our  reason, 
we  .  .  .  shall  pray  that  when  Jesus  comes  to  make  up  his 
jewels  there  will  not  be  one  of  your  number  missing." 

It  was  the  custom  of  the  aged  couple,  after  family 
worship,  to  pray  in  their  own  room  for  old  friends  indi- 
vidually. Mrs.  Turner  gave  much  time  to  comforting 
them  by  letters  —  scattered  as  they  were  "  from  Maine  to 
California  "  —  when  paratysis  disabled  him.  "  Our  sympa- 
thies are  kept  fully  alive,"  she  said,  "  in  thinking  of  many 
friends  in  bodily  and  mental  suffering." 

u  I  find  the  enjoyments  of  earth  changed ;  but  I  still 
have  the  comfort  of  my  husband's  society.  Had  I  not 
that,  I  can  imagine  what  loneliness  would  be.  I  try  to 
bring  my  mind  to  the  point  of  submission,  and  then  I 
think,  perhaps  I  shall  go  first.  I  could  wish  to  live  as 
long  as  he,  to  wait  on  him.  I  will  leave  it  with  my 
Father.  We  have  all  our  wants  supplied,  and  our  own 
son  could  not  be  kinder  than  Mr.  S." 

"  We  can  see  as  we  look  back  six  months  a  gradual 
failure  in  father,  both  in  body  and  mind.  More  feeble  in 
his  step,  and  requires  a  good  deal  of  watching  that  he 
does  n't  fall.  .  .  .  Do  you  know  about  the  4  Shut-in  Band '  ? 
We  can  unite  with  them  if  we  do  not  belong  to  the 
Bard." 

The  faithful  and  tender  wife  was  to  go  first.  She  died 
March  6,  1882.  Her  mild  and  wise  usefulness  had  kept 
pace  with  his  in  church  and  congregation,  and  in  her  home 
she  had  been  priceless.    The  beautiful  young  life  of  Hart- 


318  ASA    TURNER. 

ford  and  Litchfield  and  Boston  had  developed  into  the 
more  beautiful  mature  life  of  Quincy  and  Denmark,  and 
a  most  beautiful  old  age.  Gratitude  for  her  release  stayed 
the  survivor's  grief.  She  had  outlived  their  "  golden 
wedding"  (August,  1880),  and  they  had  journeyed  fifty- 
one  and  a  half  years  together.  When  his  own  end 
approached  he  had  joy  in  the  thought  of  seeing  her 
again  so  soon. 

One  of  his  last  acts  of  public  worship  (seconded  by 
her)  had  been  the  baptizing  of  the  pastor's  youngest  child. 
"  Merely  performed  the  ceremony ;  not  able  to  stand 
longer."  Another,  well  remembered  by  the  people,  was  his 
attendance  upon  the  Lord's  Supper,  his  steps  aided  up 
the  aisle  by  his  faithful  friend  —  now  his  townsman  —  Dr. 
Daniel  Lane.  The  silent  blessing  of  the  people  rested  upon 
the  two  aged  men  as  they  passed  along.  His  last  act  as  a 
citizen  was  the  casting  his  vote  for  the  amendment  of  the 
Constitution  of  Iowa,  prohibiting  the  sale  and  manufac- 
ture of  intoxicating  drinks.  He  was  borne  to  the  polls  in 
the  arms  of  his  son-in-law.  He  had  prayed  to  be  per- 
mitted to  live  to  cast  this  vote.     His  pastor  says:  — 

"For  many  months  before  his  death  his  mind  was 
clouded :  he  did  not  recognize  his  own  children ;  but 
the  day  before  he  died  he  was  himself,  but  could  not 
speak.  Evidently  he  desired  to  talk,  but  was  not  able. 
It  was  the  day  of  sunshine  between  the  two  days  of 
cloud.  When  asked  if  any  thing  troubled  his  mind  at 
the  thought  of  death,  he  gave  a  motion  of  his  head, 
answering  no.  When  the  verse  in  the  Twenty-third 
Psalm  was  read,  '  Though  I  walk  through  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil ;  for  thou  art 
with  me,  thy  rod  and  thy  staff  they  comfort  me,'  he  signi- 
fied his  satisfaction  in  the  thought  of  the  divine  presence." 

He  passed  away  December  13,  1885,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-six  years,  six  months,  and  one  day. 


Capt.  C.  P.  Searle's  Residence,  Oskaloosa.    See  page  300. 


jj 


v 


/, 


1a 


XXXVII. 


CHARACTERISTICS. 


The  reading  of  these  pages  will  suggest  to  many  who 
best  knew  "  Father  Turner '  unique  traits  of  his,  and 
shrewd  and  pithy  sayings  —  especially  on  moral  and 
religious  topics  —  which,  if  they  could  have  been  fully 
set  forth  here,  would  have  more  justly  and  expressively 
exhibited  the  man.  They  could  not  all  have  been  brought 
together  by  any  one.  It  has  been  out  of  the  power  of 
the  writer  to  gather  more.  They  enrich  and  brighten, 
and  in  many  cases  sweeten,  the  memories  which  those 
who  survive  him  love  to  cherish. 

He  retained  his  individuality  to  the  last.  Any  thing 
related  of  his  earlier  years  seemed  characteristic  of  him  to 
those  who  knew  him  only  in  later  ones.  He  was  some- 
times swindled  by  those  who  applied  to  him  for  charity, 
—  one  of  these  once  obtaining  a  pretty  good  outfit  and 
one  hundred  dollars  in  money,  —  but  his  heart  was  as 
open  to  the  next  applicant.  One  who  grew  up  from 
girlhood  under  his  ministry  remembers  that  he  "was 
always  read}'  to  lend,  hoping  for  nothing  again." 

"  On  one  occasion  a  parishioner  came  early  in  the  morn- 
ing to  borrow  his  old  reliable  horse,  which  any  woman  or 
child  could  drive,  as  he  wanted  to  go  to  Burlington.  But 
alas !  poor  Fanny  had  not  yet  been  returned  to  the  stable 
by  the  neighbor  who  had  borrowed  her  the  day  before  for 
an  'outing'  [not  known  then  by  that  name],  so  Father 
Turner  was  reluctantly  compelled  by  circumstances  to 
refuse  a  favor  to  a  neighbor,  a  rare  thing  for  him. 


320  ASA    TUBNEB. 

"  But  in  a  few  moments  poor  old  Fanny  returned  home, 
no  doubt  hoping  for  a  quiet  day,  when  she  was  immedi- 
ately sent  after  the  disappointed  applicant  by  one  of  his 

sons,  and  by  her  trip  to  B that  day  added  another 

link  to  the  long  chain  of  friendship  which  bound  the 
hearts  of  his  people  to  the  good,  generous  pastor." 

He  early  planted  an  orchard,  and  was  liberal  in  the 
bestowal  of  its  products.  "  You  have  no  fruit  yet,"  he 
would  say  to  visitors  who  were  opening  farms.  "  Before 
you  start  for  home  fill  up  your  wagon-bed  in  the  orchard 
with  apples."  Going  to  church  on  the  Sabbath  he  always 
crowded  his  family  wagon  with  neighbors,  and  taught  his 
people  to  do  likewise.  Calling  once  on  a  lady  of  the 
church  absent  in  wet  weather,  who  gave  as  an  excuse 
the  lack  of  rubber  overshoes,  he  asked  her  to  get  a  pair  at 
the  village  store  charged  to  him.  She  did  not  do  it,  but 
the  moral  effect  appeared  in  her  after  attendance.  One 
who  had  carried  on  his  farm,  on  leaving  with  four  yoke 
of  oxen  to  open  a  new  one  in  another  county,  found  at  the 
first  mud-hole,  on  the  outskirts  of  town,  that  an  unbroken 
yoke  of  steers  was  unmanageable.  They  became  inextri- 
cably tangled  up  with  the  others.  Going  back  to  the 
parsonage,  after  long  and  futile  effort  to  start  again,  and 
stating  the  difficulty,  "  You  need  another  yoke  of  steers 
that  are  broken,"  said  the  thoroughly  practical  minister. 
"  But  I  've  no  money  to  buy  any  more,  and  my  partner 
has  none."  The  pastor's  hat  went  on  without  a  word,  and 
he  went  out.  Returning  presently  with  fifty  dollars  in  his 
hand,  he  said :  "  There,  buy  you  another  yoke.     Brother 

has  some  good  ones."      He  was  equally  quick  to 

purchase  an  improved  washing-machine  for  a  deacon 
whose  wife  had  limited  strength,  and  for  others.  Before 
bringing  it  in  he  asked :  "  Deacon  B.,  do  you  love  your 
wife?"     He  once  invested  ten  dollars  in  a  therapeutical 


CHABACTEBISTICS.  321 

invention  fitted  to  cure  the  ailing  wife  of  another.  He 
responded  at  once  to  every  religious  want  at  home,  and 
promptly  moved  the  General  Association  to  send  an 
"  American  organ '  to  a  former  home  missionary  "  tour- 
ing "  in  Japan  in  the  service  of  the  American  Board. 
He  was  practically  thoughtful  of  all  the  necessities  of  his 
people  and  of  those  of  the  heathen  as  well.  Far  removed 
from  sentiment  as  one  could  well  be,  want  and  suffering 
anywhere  deeply  affected  him.  His  home  was  the  center 
of  a  bounteous  and  unhesitating  hospitality,  not  only  to 
all  friends,  but  to  strangers,  especially  Christian  ministers 
and  laymen. 

When  he  was  about  to  leave  Denmark  he  gave  five 
hundred  dollars  to  the  academy  from  the  proceeds  of  his 
property.  He  took  special  pleasure  in  doing  it  then, 
because  as  long  as  his  personal  interests  were  identified 
with  the  town  he  "  might  have  had  mixed  motives  "  in 
doing  so ;  now  he  could  have  the  comfort  of  giving 
without  them.  Nothing  was  more  characteristic  of  him 
than  this. 

His  own  interests  were  always  second  to  religion.  An 
early  "  Dane  "  relates  that  one  summer  after  a  bountiful 
hay-crop,  a  drought  set  in.  His  tenant  wrote  him  of  the 
distressing  condition  of  his  farm  —  pastures  dried  up, 
every  thing  discouraging  to  the  farmer,  and  what  should 
he  do  with  the  cattle  ?  Father  Turner  wrote  him  to 
"feed  hay  and  pray  for  rain."  To  his  hired  man  he 
once  said,  "  George,  you  've  cut  less  wood  than  usual 
to-day."  "  Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "  I  had  to ;  so  many 
people  stopped  over  night,  and  I  had  so  many  horses 
to  groom,  I  could  n't  get  off  to  the  timber  till  ten 
o'clock."  "  Well,  George,  it 's  all  right."  No  wonder 
an  early  resident  says :  "  He  possessed  a  peculiar  power 
to  get  the  good-will  of  every  one."     No  wonder  that  he 


322  ASA    TURNER. 

often  told  his  brethren,  as  he  said  at  the  Albany  Con- 
vention, that  he  "  would  sooner  stick  up  poles  and  cover 
them  with  corn-stalks  for  a  house  of  worship  than  send 
any  one  to  the  East  to  beg  for  aid." 

As  a  pastor  he  was  tireless  in  all  possible  methods 
of  cultivating  Christian  activity,  benevolence,  and  zeal 
among  his  people,  both  in  Illinois  and  in  Iowa.  He 
always  thought  those  to  whom  he  ministered  could  do 
much  more  than  they  did. 

In  his  laborious  pioneer  days  he  once  asked  one  of  his 
deacons  for  the  loan  of  a  horse  to  keep  one  of  his  Illinois 
appointments.  "  The  deacon  answered  jocosely :  l  Mr. 
Turner,  my  father  used  to  say  that  a  minister  or  a 
negro  never  ought  to  have  a  horse,  for  a  minister  has 
no  judgment  and  a  negro  has  no  mercy.'  He  loaned 
him  the  horse,  however,  knowing  that  he  was  as  kind 
and  considerate  as  circumstances  permitted,  and  knowing 
also  that  he  would  exact  from  his  horse,  as  he  would  from 
himself,  a  hard  day's  work  whenever  needed."  1 

The  luxury  of  giving  to  Christian  objects  he  could 
well  commend  out  of  his  own  experience.  He  had  been 
brought  up  to  habits  of  economy  (not  parsimony),  and 
knew  its  value  as  a  feeder  to  benevolence.  Yet  he  once 
observed  in  his  last  days  that  he  wondered  that  he  still 
had  means  to  remember  in  gifts  the  causes  he  loved.  One 
of  the  Iowa  Band  who  lived  at  that  time  in  Oskaloosa 
sends  the  following  incident:  — 

"  While  confined  to  his  room  in  his  last  sickness,  he 
thought  it  was  time  to  contribute  his  annual  mite  to  the 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  But  as  nothing  was  done  as  yet  in  the 
church  regarding  its  annual  donation,  he  became  some- 
what impatient  at  the  delay.  He  therefore  sent  his 
monejr  as  a  private  gift.     A  few  weeks  after,   the   tirne^ 

1  Letter  of  L.  Bull,  Esq. 


CHARACTERISTICS.  323 

for  the  annual  church  collection  arrived.  But  in  the 
collection  was  another  ten  dollars  from  Father  Turner. 
He  had  forgotten  transmitting  the  same  amount  by 
letter  to  Boston.  I  believe  he  enjoyed  the  mistake 
more  than  the  secretaries  of  the  Board  could  have 
done,  had  they  known  it."  * 

In  declining  days  he  was  interested  especially  in  what 
a  Unitarian  writer  says  of  Christ's  emptying  himself  and 
his  self-abnegation  to  elevate  and  bless  others.  "  This 
is  what  I  need,"  he  adds.  It  seemed  to  those  who  best 
knew  his  unsparing  life  that  he  longed  most  for  attain- 
ments in  the  very  directions  in  which  he  had  made  most, 
and  just  there  was  least  satisfied  with  himself. 

"  The  ruling  motive  in  his  life  was  the  love  of  Christ. 
He  had  a  constant  sense  of  the  priceless  worth  of  the 
soul,  and  of  the  great  sacrifice  which  Christ  had  made  for 
its  salvation,  and  it  was  his  joy  to  spend  and  be  spent  in 
helping  onward  the  cause  of  his  Master."  The  writer 
of  these  words  once  said  of  him  :  "  I  never  knew  him 
to  say  or  do  any  thing  that  betrayed  selfishness." 

He  showed  himself  a  man  for  that  early  time  and  for 
the  example  and  work  it  demanded  in  that  his  great 
goodness  of  heart  did  not  run  into  goodishness,  and  his 
lenity  toward  evil  was  not  laxity.  His  forbearance  could 
readily  be  abused.  The  law  of  kindness  was  on  his  lips, 
and  he  was  slow  to  speak  of  any  one  unless  he  could 
speak  well :  but  his  judgments  of  unworthiness  and 
wrong  were  incisive  on  occasion.  In  the  retirement  of 
his  old  age  he  observed  that  if  he  were  to  live  his  minis- 
terial life  over  again  he  would  make  "  more  use  of  love  ; " 
but  the  weak  sentiment  commonly  signified  by  such 
expressions  was  not  his ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  believed  that 
his   kindness  of   treatment  would  have  sacrificed  justice 

1  Rev.  D.  Lane,  d.d.,  Letter. 


324  ASA   TUBNEB. 

or  principle,  or  conscience  have  given  way  to  love.  He 
could  always  be  counted  on  to  resist  local  evil.  Church 
discipline  in  his  day  was  not  only  maintained  in  his  own 
church,  but  encouraged  elsewhere.  He  thoroughly  be- 
lieved in  the  law  of  Christ's  house  as  a  moral  barrier.  It 
would  have  been  very  idle  for  a  slave-holder,  a  distiller,  a 
brewer,  a  saloon-keeper,  —  as  well  as  for  an  intemperate 
man,  —  to  ask  admission  to  Christian  communion  at 
Denmark.  With  all  his  genial  charitableness,  he  thor- 
oughly believed  in  dividing  lines,  and  in  maintaining 
them   intact. 

His  keen  judgment  of  one  who  misrepresented  the 
West  was  :  u  If  he  has  any  religion,  it  is  of  that  charitable 
character  which  will  allow  men  to  go  to  heaven  without 
repentance  and  faith."  In  his  earliest  work  he  found 
reason  to  think  that  some  had  given  "  too  much  ground  to 
the  enemies  "  of  the  truth.  u  They  have  feared  to  proclaim 
the  humbling  truth  because is  so  powerful." 

He  once  wrote  concerning  a  class-mate :  "  His  love  of 
originality  was  so  strong  he  must  differ  from  every  one 
else.  Jacksonville  was  originally  a  very  muddy  place  — 
very  difficult  to    get   from   house    to    house.     Supposing 

there  were  good  sidewalks  where  the  people  walked, 

and would  go  in  the  middle  of  the  street  [at  the  foot 

of  the  hill]  over  boot-tops  in  mud,  rather  than  walk  where 

other  people  did.     was  very  much  beloved  in . 

His  influence  was  great  in  the  church  and  in  the  region. 
I  did  not  think  it  was  always  good.  Many  of  his  imita- 
tors did  not  have  his  mind.  Mr.  Moody's  visit  was  a 
great  blessing  to  the  region.  It  brought  men  back  from 
the  word  of  man  to  the  Word  of  God." 

Of  his  own  preaching,  he  once  said  to  Principal  Edson : 
"  I  have  roamed  over  these  prairies  so  long  that  I  can 
not  shut  myself  up  in  my  study  to  write  sermons.     The 


CHARACTEBISTICS.  325 

people  must  bear  with  it  as  well  as  they  can."  But  when 
the  sermon  seemed  to  him  inadequate,  they  were  richly 
repaid  for  attendance  by  the  devout  and  tender  spirit  of 
the  prayers,  by  the  graciousness  of  his  personality  and  of 
his  spirit  in  the  services. 

,  A  friend  writes  that  he  met  in  Nebraska  in  1866  a 
thoroughly  irreligious  young  man,  who  admitted  that 
"  with  all  his  scoffing  at,  derision  of,  and  contempt  for. the 
views  and  the  religion  of  Denmark  people,  there  were  two 
persons  there  [he  was  a  former  resident]  whose  feelings 
he  never  wished  to  hurt.  One  of  these  was  Parson 
Turner."  This  deference  was  due,  adds  my  correspond- 
ent, especially  to  "  the  deep  sincerity  with  which  the 
patriarch  uttered  his  religious  views." 

He  keenly  felt  the  difference  between  the  Christian 
spirit  and  that  of  politics.  At  one  time  an  election 
debate  by  politicians  from  abroad  occurred  in  the  town, 
marked  by  acrimony  and  loud  personal  abuse,  to  which 
the  air  of  Denmark  was  unaccustomed.  It  was  Saturday 
evening.  The  text  next  morning  was  1  Peter  1  :  22 : 
"See  that  ye  love  one  another  with  a  pure  heart  fer- 
vently ; "  and  the  first  sentence  of  the  sermon  was : 
"  Politicians,  my  friends,  do  not  love  one  another  with  a 
pure  heart  fervently  !  "  This  was  certainly  a  portion  in 
due  season. 

The  absence  of  religion  in  things  religious  always  called 
out  his  disapprobation.  He  once  said  of  a  sermon  we  had 
heard  together :  "  There  was  n't  grace  enough  in  it  to 
convert  a  rat."  Religious  papers  were  at  times  discussed 
in  the  General  Association,  with  reference  to  their  use- 
fulness in  our  frontier  churches.  On  one  occasion  when 
one  had  been  largely  commented  on  by  a  number  of 
speakers  with  much  earnestness,  at  the  close  Father 
Turner   quietly    said :    "  The    only    objection    I    have    to 


326  ASA    TURNER. 

it  as  a  religious  weekly  is  that  there  is  n't  a  mite  of  re- 
ligion now  in  it."  He  passed  one  winter  in  New  England, 
and  met  on  Monday  mornings  with  city  ministers.  At 
the  close  of  his  visit,  two  Mondays  were  consumed  in 
discussing  in  essays  ideas  of  atonement  in  ancient  classi- 
cal writers.  It  was  very  tiresome  to  him,  and  he  was  the 
last  called  upon  the  second  Monday  to  speak.  "  Brethren," 
he  said,  "  I  have  listened  to  this  long  debate,  pro  and  con, 
with  pain.  Why  should  I  go  to  any  old  heathen  for  my 
views  of  the  mediation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  " 

There  was  sometimes  a  quaint  directness  and  simplicity 
in  action,  as  well  as  a  primitive  incisiveness  of  speech, 
about  him.  Other  things  besides  learned  speculation  at 
the  East  displeased  the  Illinois  and  Iowa  pioneer.  Once 
at  Templeton  he  suggested,  on  reading  a  second  hymn, 
that  instrumental  interludes  could  be  dispensed  with  to 
edification,  and  at  the  Lord's  Supper  passed  the  bread 
left  for  the  pastor  and  himself  across  the  table  to  a  vener- 
able member  of  the  church  in  front  whom  he  recognized. 
A  church  choir  and  persons  careful  of  church  punctilios 
would  certainly  have  objections  of  taste  to  these  things. 
It  was  pleasant  to  his  younger  brethren  always  to  allow 
his  sometimes  abrupt  yet  ever  patriarchal  manners  at 
meetings  of  Association.  Very  enjoyable  were  the  "  short 
sermons  '  he  sometimes  gave  to  the  brethren,  and  in  turn 
to  the  sisters,  in  the  last  years  of  his  attendance.  The 
resolutions  we  sometimes  passed  on  tobacco  called  out  his 
good-humored  bantering.  From  childhood  he  had  been 
accustomed  to  the  use  of  it  on  the  farm  by  his  older 
relatives,  and  by  village  pastors  even  of  that  time.  Once 
as  we  were  about  adjourning  he  arrested  us  by  saying, 
"  I  notice,  brethren,  you  have  not  passed  your  usual  reso- 
lutions against  tobacco.  I  told  you  last  year  that  I  should 
use  the  weed  a  little  all  the  same.     But  I  have  had  an 


CHARACTERISTICS.  327 

experience.  There  came  a  time  when  it  had  to  be 
decided  whether  tobacco  was  master  or  Asa  Turner.  I 
put  my  foot  down  and  said :  *  Asa  Turner  shall  be  master 
here.'  But  you'd  better  believe,  brethren,  I  had  a  time 
of  it !  " 

The  close  and  warm  ties  uniting  the  household  in  the 
Denmark  parsonage  were  observed  of  all.  "  His  children 
knew,"  writes  one  of  the  eldest,  "  that  if  we  needed  any 
thing,  and  it  were  possible  to  get  it,  we  should  receive  it, 
though  it  were  a  luxury ;  and  if  we  had  done  wrong,  we 
feared  more  the  sorrow  he  felt  than  any  punishment  that 
could  fall  on  us."  He  recognized  the  perfect  equality  of 
man  and  woman  in  his  home.  "In  my  earliest  years  I 
remember  his  hand  on  my  head, — before  I  was  four  and 
a  half  years  old,  —  and  his  saying,  as  he  stroked  my  curls  : 
1  My  daughter  is  going  to  be  one  of  the  best  teachers  in 
the  United  States.  I  wish  she  could  preach,  too.' '  "  He 
knew  I  inherited  my  mother's  hatred  of  speaking  or  doing 
any  thing  else  in  public."  "He  rarely  used  the  word 
obey  in  the  marriage  ceremony.  i  If  women  did  n't  wish 
to  obey,  you  could  n't  make  them,'  adding,  with  that 
merry  twinkle  in  his  eye,  ■  I  don't  know  as  a  man  ought 
to  be  obliged  —  if  he  hasn't  common-sense  enough  to 
secure  the  obedience  through  love.'  His  love  for  my 
mother  was  idolatrous,  and  yet  not  sinful ;  and  such  was 
his  happiness  in  family  life  that  he  thought  every  one 
should  marry. 

"  You  remember  how  father  loved  a  joke.  You  do  not 
know  that  if  one  of  his  children  played  a  joke  on  him,  or 
succeeded  in  giving  him  a  keen,  witty  reply,  he  enjoyed  it 
better  even  than  from  friends." 

He  often  brought  a  smile  by  what  seemed  like  humor, 
but  was,  instead,  a  kindly  shrewdness.  He  had  wit  and 
mother-wit.     Too  serious  a  man  to  give  way  to  extended 


328  ASA    TUENEB. 

pleasantries,  the  Yankee  acuteness  of  his  speech  often  gave 
it  a  flavor  as  agreeable  as  Attic  salt.1 

"  The  analysis  of  his  sermons  would  show,"  says  Dr. 
Lane,  "  that  he  concentrated  his  thoughts  on  two  objects : 
the  conversion  of  men  ;  higher  personal  attainments  and 
greater  activity  in  the  churches." 

"  In  times  of  religious  interest  he  often  had  great 
power  over  the  consciences  and  convictions  of  his  audi- 
ences. He  once  preached  a  sermon  in  Keosauqua  on  the 
first  and  great  command.  The  subject  was  the  adaptation 
of  the  law  of  love  to  promote  the  ■  highest  happiness  of 
men  and  of  the  universe.'  There  were  lawyers,  county 
officers,  and  the  most  intellectual  portion  of  the  city 
among  his  hearers.  The  arguments  were,  for  the  most 
part,  by  simple  illustrations,  addressed  to  the  conscious- 
ness and  observation  of  all  present.  Every  eye  was  fixed 
upon  him  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  discourse. 
One  lawyer,  afterwards  a  federal  judge  and  a  United 
States  senator,  went  into  that  Sabbath  morning  meeting 
a  careless  man  as  to  religion.  During  the  sermon  he  was 
so  impressed  by  the  thoughts  presented  that  he  yielded 
himself  to*  the  Author  of  that  law,  so  beneficent  in  its 
design  and  so  perfectly  adapted  not  only  to  secure  the 
happiness  of  all  created  intelligences,  but  also  to  remind 
them  of  their  personal  obligations  to  the  God  of  such 
legal  wisdom  and  evident  goodness.  He  went  out  of  that 
gathering  a  Christian  man  ;  that  night  he  erected  a  family 
altar,  and  afterwards  with  his  wife  became  a  member  of 
my  church."2 

Some  of  the  most  useful  things  he  said,  in  his  later 
days  especially,  were  short  and  pithy  and  dropped  in 
prayer-meetings,  in  the  house,  or  in  the  field.    Stopping 

1  The  first  head  of  a  sermon  addressed  to  ministers'  wives  was :    "  I.    Dear 
Sisters,  Don't  tell  your  husbands  every  thing  that  is  going  on  in  the  church." 

2  Dr.  D.  Lane,  Letter. 


CHARACTERISTICS.  329 

over  night  once  with  a  good  deacon  not  far  from  the  Des 
Moines  River  he  found  small  prospect  of  wheat  and  corn. 
The  deacon-farmer  talked  discouragingly  if  not  complain- 
ingly.  Father  Turner  caught  the  tone  of  a  want  of  trust 
and  looked  at  him  a  moment,  "  the  earnestness  of  his  soul 
so  lighting  up  his  eyes  that  the  deacon  felt  that  in  some 
way  he  had  been  guilty  of  wronging  God,"  and  then  said : 
"  Dear  brother,  have  you  not  yet  learned  that  God  does 
all  things  in  love  ?  '  "A  lesson  for  a  life-time,"  said  the 
hearer  to  his  young  pastor.1 

"  During  the  Rebellion  when  corn  had  gone  up  to  one 
dollar  a  bushel,  a  substantial  farmer  who  had  raised  a 
large  crop  declined  to  sell  any  of  it  to  one  of  his  poorer 
brethren,  holding  it  for  a  rise.  The  poor  brother  went 
with  a  complaint  to  Father  Turner,  who  thereupon  wrote 
down  a  verse  of  Scripture,  and  affixing  his  own  name  to 
the  paper,  gave  it  to  the  complainant  to  hand  to  the 
farmer.  Upon  receiving  the  paper,  the  farmer  manifested 
great  excitement,  was  '  hopping  mad '  for  a  few  days,  and 
went  about  his  home  and  barn  ejaculating  to  himself,  k  Asa 
Turner !  Asa  Turner ! '  But  many  days  did  not  pass  until 
he  sent  word  to  his  less  favored  brother  to  come  for  a  load 
of  corn  at  fifty  cents  a  bushel."  2 

Without  familiarity  with  "the  logic  of  the  schools" 
(which  he  always  had  too  much  good  sense  to  denounce) 
his  pat  way  of  putting  things  often  reminded  one  of  it. 
In  a  New  England  state,  at  an  association  of  ministers, 
he  once  heard  the  statement  from  a  minister  that  the 
people  of  the  West  were  "all  a  gang  of  speculators 
and  thieves.  He  was  out  in  Illinois,  and  all  were  so 
whom  he  saw.  As  I  took  my  leave  of  the  association," 
adds    Father   Turner,    "I   said    that   I   should    tell   our 

i  Letter  of  Rev.  C.  C  Harrah. 
8  Dr.  Salter,  Letter. 


330  ASA   TURNER. 

friends  at  the  West  that  every  man  in  New  Hampshire 
was  a  Congregational  minister,  for,  at  such  a  day,  in  such 
a  house,  in  that  state,  all  present  were." 

His  home  ways  were  unique  enough  to  make  lasting 
impressions.  A  young  man  led  to  the  village  by  interest 
in  one  of  the  excellent  young  ladies  appeared  at  prayer- 
meeting  with  a  deacon.  Supposing  him  to  be  a  younger 
brother  of  the  deacon,  Father  Turner  twice  called  on 
him  by  his  supposed  name  to  lead  in  prayer.  No  response. 
After  other  exercises,  pointing  his  index  finger  that  way, 
he  said  :  "  Will  that  brother  be  good  enough  to  lead  us  in 
prayer,  whoever  he  is  ! '  A  few  days  after,  having  learned 
the  young  man's  errand,  on  meeting  him  socially  he 
remarked  :  "  We  have  lost  many  of  the  lambs  of  our  flock 
of  late  —  are  you  sure  you  are  here  on  lawful  business  ? ' 

His  shrewd  judgments  of  men  were  often  not  a  little 
amusing.  To  one  charged  with  the  task  of  placing  young 
ministers  he  wrote  :  — 

"  Brother  wants  a  larger  place  than  nature  has 

made  him  to  fill.     Brother is  out  of  a  place,  and  my 

fear  is  that  he  always  will  be  out  of  that  to  which  God 
calls  him  so  long  as  he  remains  in  the  ministry.  He  is 
a  good  man,  but  his  upper  story  is  not  high  enough  for 
a  Western  minister.  If  you  can  find  him  a  place  among 
Eastern  people  where  he  can  read  his  sermons,  he  will  do 

much  better  than  at  and  vicinity,  where  they  want 

men  to  preach  by  inspiration." 

Along  with  this  should  be  taken  what  he  said  of  himself 
at  the  Association  Semi-centennial.  He  came  to  a  village 
of  "  two  rude  shanties,  with  three  other  tenements  within 
the  radius  of  a  mile.  Two  circumstances  decided  my 
choice :  first,  to  find  a  place  small  enough  for  me,  and 
second,  to  make  a  place  in  which  I  could  educate  my 
children.     I  failed  in  the  first,  but  not  in  the  second." 


CHARACTEBISTICS.  331 

He  wrote  a  few  years  later :  "  I  look  upon  my  past  life 
in  a  great  measure  as  a  failure,  clouded  with  so  much 
unbelief  and  ignorance ;  and  I  feel  that  in  all  places 
where  I  have  been  I  have  been  an  unprofitable  servant." 
His  humility,  exceeding  great,  and  his  low  estimate  of 
what  he  had  been  and  had  done  were  among  the  most 
distinct  things  in  the  mellowing  days  of  age.  The  first 
thing  he  said  on  my  calling  upon  him  one  day  was :  "  I 
have  been  looking  over  my  past  life  as  a  Christian  and 
a  minister,  and  I  find  that  I  have  made  no  attainments 
and  accomplished  nothing ;  absolutely  nothing."  It 
would  have  been  the  idlest  of  answers  to  such  a  father 
in  Israel  to  praise  him  to  his  face.  It  would  have  collided 
with  the  work  of  divine  grace  in  him.  It  would  have 
been  no  comfort.  The  subsequent  conversation  showed 
that  he  had  been  advancing  largely  in  his  estimate  of  what 
a  follower  of  Christ  should  become  and  should  do  in 
his  work.  The  comparison  this  brought  with  it  was  inevi- 
table, and  was  one  Jonathan  Edwards  would  have  made. 
A  few  years  before,  he  wrote  another  minister  :  M  It  is  not 
Unitarians  alone  who  are  ignorant  of  Christ.  Alas  !  that 
I  have  such  feeble  conceptions  of  his  character  and  work, 
such  faint  and  cold  love  to  him.  Flesh  and  blood  will  not 
reveal  Christ  to  man,  nor  any  merely  biblical  studies.  The 
same  that  revealed  Christ  in  Saul  is  essential  now,  and 
none  of  us  can  say  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  but  by  the 
Holy  Ghost."  His  favorite  hymn  was  that  of  Dr.  Watts, 
beginning,  — 

"  Great  God!  how  infinite  art  thou! 
What  worthless  worms  are  we  I " 


XXXVIII. 

SOME    HEAKTFELT   TRIBUTES. 

By  an  arrangement  made  years  before,  the  patriarch's 
ministerial  neighbor  of  longest  continuance,  Rev.  William 
Salter,  d.d.,  preached  his  funeral  sermon  at  Oskaloosa, 
December  16,  1885.     He  said  :  — 

"Like  one  and  another  of  the  patriarchs,  prophets,  and  apostles, 
we  may  say  of  him -that  he  walked  with  God,  as  Eiioch;  that  he 
was  the  friend  of  God,  as  Abraham ;  that  he  was  the  servant  of 
the  Lord,  as  Moses;  that  he  served  his  own  generation  by  the  will 
of  God,  as  David ;  that  he  was  a  good  man,  and  full  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  of  faith,  as  Barnabas ;  that  he  fought  a  good  fight,  that 
he  finished  his  course,  that  he  kept  the  faith,  as  Paul.  We  honor 
the  Lord,  we  magnify  his  salvation  when  we  pay  a  merited  tribute 
to  one  of  his  servants,  who  ascribed  to  divine  grace  all  the  good 
which  he  possessed  and  all  the  good  which  he  accomplished. 

"  Few  have  a  higher  sense  of  the  divine  power  and  glory,  or  of 
the  majestic  sweetness  that  sits  enthroned  upon  the  Saviour's  brow. 
In  love  and  devotion  he  was  a  pupil  of  Saint  John,  and  like  the 
bosom  disciple ;  in  faith  and  hope  and  courage,  he  was  a  pupil  of 
Saint  Paul,  and  like  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  I  remember  at 
one  period  in  his  pastorate  that  he  was  absorbed  in  the  prophecies 
of  Isaiah,  while  preaching  a  course  of  sermons  from  them.  The 
magnanimity  of  spirit  and  largeness  of  view  exhibited  by  that 
prophet,  the  indignation  at  oppression  and  greed,  at  hypocrisy  and 
cant,  the  portrait  of  the  Man  of  Sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief,  the  promised  conversion  of  the  Gentiles,  touched  the 
sympathies  of  his  nature ;  and  I  have  thought  of  him  as  a  pupil 
of  Isaiah  and  like  the  fifth  evangelist." 

Rev.  Julius  A.  Reed  observed  that  he  was  a  far  greater 
man  than  many  whom  the  world    calls   great.     Doctors 


SOME  HEARTFELT  TRIBUTES.  333 

Robbins  and   Adams  and   Prof.  H.  K.   Edson  shared   in 
the  services. 

His  pastor,  Rev.  J.  E.  Snowden,  published  a  sketch  of 
his  life  in  which  he  testified  that  u  as  a  member  of  the 
church  he  was  as  faithful  as  he  was  in  the  pastorate.  He 
grew  in  Christian  character  each  day.  His  mind  was 
progressive.  He  saw  far  into  the  future.  He  looked  on 
every  thing  as  having  to  do  with  the  Redeemer's  kingdom. 
It  is  said  of  him  by  one  of  his  children,  4 1  never  heard 
father  complain  of  his  circumstances.'  The  pastor  closed 
with  the  words  of  another,  who  knew  the  venerable  man 
unusually  well :  — 

"  Father  Turner  was  a  character  of  a  very  unique,  noble,  and 
delightful  sort.  Strong  mother-wit,  quick  and  keen  perception, 
unfaltering  loyalty  to  truth  and  right,  fearlessness,  shrewd  judg- 
ment of  men  and  things,  practical  benevolence,  tender,  child-like 
piety,  and  unquestioning  faith  united  in  him.  Entering  college  at 
twenty-four,  he  was  always  older  than  those  he  acted  with,  and 
was  looked  up  to  for  wise  counsel  and  prompt,  decisive  action. 
He  could  lead  without  ambition  or  exciting  the  jealousy  of  others. 
His  hope  and  fortitude  never  failed  in  doubtful  situations  of  the 
good  old  cause  or  dark  days.    Multitudes  bless  his  memory." 

The  academy  trustees  at  their  next  annual  meeting,  and 
the  college  trustees  at  theirs,  fitly  noticed  the  death  of 
the  oldest  of  the  founders.  The  former  recorded  their 
appreciation  of  "  his  great  and  invaluable  services  in 
planting  the  institution,  and  in  sustaining  it  through 
the  labors  and  struggles  of  its  early  history."  They 
testified  to  "  his  fervor  and  devotion  in  the  cause  of 
Christian  education,  his  sagacity,  his  zeal,  his  generosity, 
his  self-sacrifice,  his  fidelity  to  all  the  trusts  of  life," 
and  urged  the  completion  of  an  academy  endowment 
fund  bearing  his  name. 

The  Denmark  Association  of  churches  and  ministers 
set  forth  "the  esteem  and  veneration  cherished  for  his 


334  ASA    TUBNEB. 

character  and  memory."  As  home  missionary  and  super- 
intendent of  missions,  "  he  carried  saving  health  far  and 
wide  among  the  infant  settlements.  He  was  a  leader 
in  moral  and  social  reforms.  The  evening  of  his  days 
was  rich  in  patriarchal  grace  and  blessing,  until  in  age 
and  weariness  he  was  gathered  to  his  fathers."  "The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  rested  upon  him,  the  spirit  of  wisdom 
and  understanding,  the  spirit  of  counsel  and  might,  the 
spirit  of  knowledge  and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord." 

Rev.  Julius  A.  Reed  was  requested  to  prepare  a  paper 
"  containing  reminiscences  of  his  life  and  labors,"  and 
satisfaction  was  expressed  "that  a  memoir  is  to  be  pre- 
pared by  President  Magoun." 

The  General  Association  of  Iowa  adopted  a  minute 
touching  his  connection  with  the  history  of  Iowa  Con- 
gregationalism and  his  noble  personal  character.  "A 
Christian  experience  deep  and  thorough,  formed  under 
peculiar  obstacles  in  youth,  developed  into  an  unwearied 
evangelism ;  an  industrious  and  conscientious  use  of  his 
time,  energies,  and  means  for  the  salvation  of  men ;  an 
ever-vigilant  care  of  the  churches  among  which  he 
labored;  a  constant  interest  in  the  spread  of  the  gospel 
every-where ;  and  a  notable  courage  in  bearing  reproach 
and  facing  danger  for  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness. 
.  .  .  No  form  of  human  improvement  too  obscure,  nor  its 
objects  too  despised,  to  escape  his  notice  or  be  excluded 
from  his  prayers.  .  .  .  He  saw  all  habitually,  devoutly  in 
relation  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  .  .  .  The  acuteness 
of  his  mind ;  his  genial  and  incisive  mother-wit ;  the 
kindly  interest  that  he  took  in  all  whom  he  could 
benefit  —  especially  all  of  the  household  of  faith ;  his 
benign  and  gracious  patriarchal  manners  as  age  wore 
on ;  his  utter  lack  of  self-seeking ;  his  constant  benefi- 
cence,   won   him,   without   effort   of    his    own,    the    dear 


SOME  HEABTFELT  TRIBUTES.  335 

esteem  and  fraternal  and  filial  love  of  Christians  and 
ministers  of  Christ  beyond  all  denominational  lines. 
And  reverence  for  his  great  and  thorough  nobleness, 
simplicity,  and  truth  of  character,  and  his  consecrated 
life,  deepened  in  all  who  knew  him  to  the  end." 


APPENDIX. 

DENOMINATIONS    AND    CHRISTIAN   UNITY. 

It  was  certain  that  one  who  was  so  thoroughly  a  New 
England  Congregationalist  would  find  his  Iowa  ecclesias- 
tical relations  free  and  more  to  his  mind  than  those  which 
he  first  assumed  in  Illinois.  It  was  quite  as  certain  that 
his  Christian  charity  and  love  of  unity  would  have  more 
scope.  As  his  spirit  and  line  of  action  are,  in  this,  repre- 
sentative of  Iowa  pioneers,  some  facts  are  here  brought 
together  exhibiting  him  as  an  Iowa  Congregationalist. 

He  hardly  needed  to  remark  to  an  Eastern  assembly : 
"I  am  known  at  the  West  as  a  Congregationalist,  and  I 
do  not  think  I  shall  be  known  as  any  thing  else."  Yet 
few  men  had  a  broader  or  sweeter  charity  for  all  the 
followers  of  Christ;  few  have  been  more  willing  to  be 
practically  identified  with  good  men  from  whom  in  much 
he  strenuously  differed. 

Five '  years  after  the  beginnings  at  Denmark,  the 
question  of  ecclesiastical  union  with  Presbyterians  on  the 
plan  of  the  General  and  District  Conventions  of  Wisconsin 
was  seriously  considered  in  the  infant  Iowa  Association. 
It  was  brought  up  at  the  semi-annual  meeting,  May  19, 
1842.  "Feeling  deeply  the  importance  of  a  union  of 
plan  and  action,  and  being  desirous  of  entering  into  some 
proper  bond  of  union,"  the  Association  chose  Messrs. 
Turner,  Gaylord,  and  Burnham  a  committee  "to  corre- 
spond with  the  Presbyterian  ministers  and  churches 
composing  the  Des  Moines  Presbytery,  and  invite  them 
to  unite  in  convention  to  discuss  and  recommend  a  plan 


DENOMINATIONS  AND   CHBISTIAN  UNITY.        337 

of  union."  At  the  annual  meeting,  October  6,  this 
committee  reported  their  duty  performed,  and  were  dis- 
charged. There  is  no  record  how  the  advances  of  the 
Congregationalists  were  received.  But  a  year  later  at 
the  annual  meeting,  September  14,  1843,  an  elaborate 
Constitution  for  a  General  Convention,  and  one  for 
District  Conventions  were  adopted.  The  local  churches 
were  to  "  adopt  either  the  Presbyterian  or  Congregational 
mode  of  government,  and  be  represented  at  the  meetings 
of  the  convention  by  one  delegate."  (The  Constitution 
of  the  Association  gave  each  Congregational  church  "  two 
or  more,"  but  of  these  only  one  a  voter  "  in  cases  of  disci- 
pline.") Records  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  to  be 
reviewed  by  District  Conventions,  and  appeals  allowed  to 
them  from  Presbyterian  "  sessions,"  and  from  them  to  the 
General  Convention  — "  Congregational  ministers  and 
delegates  not  required  or  expected  to  act  in  such  appeals." 
The  general  body  was  to  be  "  a  bond  of  union,  peace,  and 
mutual  confidence  among  [the]  churches,  and  take  meas- 
ures for  the  promotion  of  the  benevolent  objects  of  the 
day."  Some  of  its  features  were  Congregational ;  others, 
Presbyterian.  Article  IX  read  thus :  "  Considering  the 
importance  of  harmony  in  the  Christian  Church,  and  the 
duty  of  all  its  ministers  and  members  to  unite  in  promot- 
ing the  interests  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  and  sympa- 
thizing more  particularly  with  our  brethren  of  the  Presby- 
terian and  Congregational  churches  in  the  United  States, 
this  Convention  will  hold  correspondence  with  their 
general  ecclesiastical  bodies  as  far  as  practicable." 

A  number  of  Presbyterians,  ministers  and  laymen,  were 
present  when  these  constitutions  were  adopted,  and  took 
part  in  the  other  proceedings.  Rev.  Reuben  Gaylord  and 
Rev.  W.  W.  Woods  (Presbyterian)  were  made  a  com- 
mittee   "to    call   a    general   convention,  after   the  [Des 


338  ASA    TUBNEB. 

Moines]  Presbytery  shall  have  acted  upon  the  subject." 
At  the  annual  meeting  of  Association  at  Brighton,  Octo- 
ber 3,  1844,  — more  than  two  years  after  the  subject  was 
first  mooted,  —  Mr.  Gaylord,  "  from  the  joint  committee 
appointed  to  call  a  convention  of  this  Association  and  the 
Des  Moines  Presbytery,  reported  that  no  information  of 
any  action  by  the  Presbytery  on  the  plan  of  union  pro- 
posed by  the  Association  had  been  received.  Report 
adopted." 

Mr.  Turner  and  others  were  heartily  in  favor  of  this 
movement,  but  no  further  mention  of  it  appears  in  any 
records.  The  hope  was  peace  in  united  work.  Expecting 
that  something  would  come  of  it  in  1842,  the  Denmark 
church,  on  his  suggestion,  appointed  a  delegate  to  the  pro- 
posed convention,  but  the  committee  of  which  he  was 
chairman  never  proceeded  far  enough  to  call  it  together. 

The  convention  —  of  which  there  are  no  known  minutes 
—  seems  to  have  been  held  at  Yellow  Springs  (Kossuth), 
Father  Turner  in  the  chair.  The  Association  committee 
of  1842,  Messrs.  Turner,  Gaylord,  and  Burnham,  had 
invited  the  Presbytery  of  Des  Moines  —  a  body  two  years 
younger;  and  a  later  committee  (1843),  Messrs.  Turner, 
Woods  (Presbyterian),  Burnham,  and  Boal 1  (Presby- 
terian), had  reported  to  the  Association  general  and 
district  convention  constitutions.2  One  of  the  Presby- 
terians present,  Rev.  Adam  L.  Rankin,  says :  "  The  Con- 
gregational brethren  were  a  unit  for  a  union  of  some 
kind;  the  Presbyterians  were  a  tie."  Father  Turner 
opened  by  explaining  the  Wisconsin  plan,  and  urging 
it  for  substance.  Other  Congregationalists  and  Rev. 
William  C.  Rankin,  Presbyterian,  followed.  One  Presby- 
terian, Rev.  W.  W.  Woods,  m.d.,  of  Iowa  City,  was  unde- 

1  Of  Dayton  Presbytery,  Ohio.    Only  a  short  time  in  Iowa. 

2  See  Early  Minutes,  1840-45  (printed  1888),  pp.  19-22. 


DENOMINATIONS  AND   CHBISTIAN  UNITY.        339 

cided.  Rev.  A.  L.  Rankin  says :  "  I  was  hostile  to  any 
plan ;  had  grown  up  in  the  midst  of  the  Old  School  and 
New  School  controversy,  and  came  to  the  conclusion,  in 
Lane  Seminary,  that  if  there  never  had  existed  a  Plan  of 
Union  the  bitter  controversies  and  jealousies,  on  the  one 
hand,  which  resulted  in  the  absorption  by  Presbytery  of 
the  Congregational  churches  of  Western  New  York  and 
the  Western  Reserve,  and,  on  the  other,  the  division  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  would  not  have  occurred.  Rev. 
J.  A.  Clark  was  opposed  (but  unwilling  to  lead  off).  I  was 
comparatively  a  boy,  with  a  boyish  appearance,1  and  with 
great  reluctance  followed  my  uncle,  and  labored  to  show 
that  in  every  instance  plans  of  union  resulted  in  damage 
to  both  parties.  Rev.  W.  C.  Rankin  urged  me  to  desist, 
as  it  would  be  a  damage  which  a  young  man  like  myself 
could  not  afford  to  suffer.  The  vote  of  the  Presbyterians 
was  three  to  one  in  opposition.  So  we  did  not  unite,  and 
the  convention  adjourned."  The  Association  committee 
reported  no  response  from  the  Presbytery. 

"  I  have  always  rejoiced  and  thanked  God,"  adds  Rev. 
A.  L.  Rankin,  "  that  I  was  permitted  to  defeat  it.  At 
one  of  the  triennial  conventions  in  Chicago  [later], 
Father  Turner  most  heartily  thanked  me." 

Meantime  he  was  shaping  the  religious  future  about 
him  in  the  way  of  practical  Christian  comity  and  equity. 
Acting  for  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  he 
introduced  both  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  minis- 

1  He  disclaims  having  been  influenced  by  zeal  for  Presbyterianism.  He  was 
born  in  Jonesboro',  Tenn.,  March,  1816  (now  seventy-three  years  old),  son  of 
Rev.  John  Rankin,  long  of  Ripley,  Ohio;  graduated  from  Ripley  College  —  a 
state  institution,  for  many  years  extinct  — and  from  Lane  Seminary;  home  mis- 
sionary at  Keosauqua,  1841;  returned  to  Ohio,  1843;  in  pioneer  work  as  a  reform 
Presbyterian  ten  years;  in  Illinois,  1856,  working  along  railroad  lines,  forming 
churches  opposed  to  connection  with  slavery;  chaplain  one  hundred  and  thirteenth 
regiment,  Illinois  infantry,  1862-65;  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  till  1873;  home  missionary 
since  in  California,  largely  at  his  own  expense,  and  resides  at  San  Francisco. 
Ecclesiastically  since  1856  he  has  been  a  Cougregationalist. 


340  ASA    TUBNEB. 

ters,  when  any  were  to  be  obtained.  He  scrupulously 
respected  the  preferences  of  the  people,  and  where  a 
minister  was  wanted  duly  notified  the  society  at  New 
York  what  sort  of  one,  ecclesiastically,  was  preferred. 
His  own  account  of  this  exploring  and  supervising  work 
is  as   follows  :  — 

"I  was  the  first  home  missionary  agent  for  the  Congre- 
gationalists.  The  agents  that  preceded  me  acted  on  this 
plan  —  to  give  a  Congregational  minister  to  a  Presbyte- 
rian church  and  vice  versa.  I  told  the  people  where  I 
went  that  I  was  a  Congregationalist  —  they  had  a  right 
to  be  so,  if  they  chose.  The  Home  Missionary  Society 
would  aid    either." 

His  sense  of  impartiality  was  doubtless  quickened  and 
confirmed  by  some  of  his  experiences.  He  relates  one 
that  occurred  when  he  was  in  Quincy :  — 

"I  was  sent  for  by  Brothers  Gale  [Rev.  George  W., 
founder  of  Galesburg]  and  Miter  [Rev.  John  J.,  "  after- 
wards of  Milwaukee  and  Beaver  Dam,  Wis."]  to  go  to 
Monmouth  to  form  a  Congregational  church.  I  went 
a  hundred  miles  in  very  bad  going.  I  inquired  of  the 
ministers  who  were  there  at  the  time  attending  Presby- 
tery, if  it  was  best  to  form  a  church.  They  said  they 
thought  it  was,  and  a  church  was  formed.  About  three 
months  after  I  was  passing  through  the  place  and  asked 
how  they  were  getting  along.  '  Oh,'  they  said,  '  we  Ve 
become  Presbyterians,  because  they  told  us  we  must,  to 
secure  aid  from  the  A.  H.  M.  S.' " 

In  the  same  connection  in  his  autobiography,  Mr. 
Turner  gives  some  unique  Iowa  experiences  :  — 

"  I  was  sent  for  to  organize  a  church  in  Iowa  City. 
I  sent  word  that  I  would  be  there  in  two  or  three  weeks. 
In  due  time  I  went.  In  the  meantime  Brother  Bell, 
a  Presbyterian  minister,  taking  Brother  A.  L ,  went 


DENOMINATIONS  AND   CHRISTIAN  UNITY.        341 

and  preached  to  them.  Brother  Bell  told  them  that  if 
they  would  be  Presbyterians  they  could  secure  Brother 

L for  their  minister.     But  Brother  L fell  from 

Presbyterian isrn  before  long,  and  did  not  go  there. 

"  The  minister  at  Muscatine  sent  word  to  me  that  he 
would  get  ahead  of  me,  for  he  would  make  all  the  male 
members  ruling  elders !  After  he  left  I  went  up  to 
Muscatine  to  see  them.  They  called  a  meeting  of  the 
members  of  the  church.  I  went  in  and  was  introduced 
to  each  one  as  a  ■  ruling  elder,'  till  I  came  to  the  oldest, 
Brother  Plin}'  Fay.  When  I  began  to  laugh,  he  said, 
1  /  am  the  only  private. '  " 

This  was  under  the  Plan  of  Union.  The  plan  of  mixed 
conventions  in  Iowa,  which  Mr.  Turner  did  his  part  to 
inaugurate,  might  perhaps  have  carried  out  the  principles 
of  the  former  with  more  fairness.  But  he  had  no  thought 
of  renouncing  his  honest  and  mature  preferences.  In  a 
speech  before  the  National  Council  (1865)  at  Boston,  he 
said :  — 

"  I  have  been  an  advocate  for  this  polity  "  (that  of  New 
England)  "  a  great  many  years.  I  was  its  advocate,  I 
believe,  before  the  fathers  in  Massachusetts  were  —  when 
they  ignored  it.  I  have  conversed  with  a  great  many 
men  upon  the  subject  in  times  past,  and  I  do  not  recollect 
a  single  instance  in  which  the  polity  was  not  approved  by 
those  before  whom  it  was  laid."  He  was  wont  to  say  that 
he  had  no  fear  in  a  new  church  of  a  fair  majority  vote,  as 
to  the  form  of  government  which  should  be  adopted.  But 
he  never  went  into  mourning  when  another  form  than  that 
of  his  own  choice  was  preferred,  or  blamed  those  who 
preferred  it. 

In  his  ripe  old  age,  approaching  his  eightieth  birthday, 
his  conclusions  as  to  forming  churches  were  set  down  in 
these  words :  — 


342  ASA   TUBNER. 

• 

"  Our  Puritan  fathers  formed  the  civil  government 
upon  the  ecclesiastical.  The  voice  of  the  people  was 
the  supreme  law.  Every  town  meeting  managed  its 
own  concerns  by  popular  vote ;  they  taxed  themselves, 
and  appropriated  money  as  the  popular  vote  directed. 
School  and  church  were  considered  indispensable  to  the 
welfare  of  society.  Their  great  idea  was  self-government, 
under  God,  in  Church  and  State.  If  it  is  asked  why  the 
members  of  Congregational  churches  do  not  live  more  in 
accordance  with  their  principles  ?  —  why  did  not  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  live  more  in  accordance  with  the  divine 
pattern?  —  the  answer  is,  Unbelief  in  the  will  of  God 
expressed  through  Moses.  Multitudes  [of  Congrega- 
tionalists]  fail  through  ignorance.  The  great  difficulty 
is  that  ministers  have  failed  to  instruct  them  according 
to  Deut.  6  :  6,  7.  I  feel  that  I  have  failed  to  comply 
with  this  command,  and  I  think  that  almost  universally 
the  ministers  in  New  England  failed.  Within  the  last 
thirty  years  there  has  been  a  revival  of  interest  in  the 
polity  of  our  fathers." 

He  had  none  of  the  dogmatism  which  creates  a  secta- 
rian spirit.  His  liberality  in  the  Quincy  organization  as 
to  one  article  common  to  the  two  denominations  has  been 
noted.  On  other  points  he  loyally  followed  the  "  D wight 
Professor  "  at  Yale,  both  where  he  agreed  and  probably 
where  he  disagreed  with  Presbyterian  teachings.  At  an 
early  day  in  Illinois  he  had  described  a  self-taught  minister 
of  vigorous  mind  and  warm  heart,  a  native  Illinoisan  who 
afterwards  appeared  in  Northern  Iowa,  who  had  "  obtained 
his  theology  from  the  Bible."  In  Missouri  licensure  of 
this  minister  had  been  objected  to  because  he  did  not 
adopt  limited  atonement  or  moral  inability.  His  Quincy 
yoke-fellow  found  that  their  coincidence  of  views  "con- 
firmed him  in  our  New  England  theology." 


DENOMINATIONS  AND   CHRISTIAN  UNITY.        343 

In  a  private  letter  of  his,  February,  1875,  to  Dr.  Salter, 
his  neighbor  for  twenty-six  years,  he  said :  "  The  Script- 
ures teach  me  that  Christ  was  God  manifest  in  the  flesh. 
And  while  no  definite  knowledge  of  him  is  necessary  to 
salvation,  it  seems  abhorrent  to  look  upon  him  as  depend- 
ent. I  was  raised  a  Unitarian,  and  the  fruits  [of  the 
system]  were  not  such  as  to  commend  it  to  my  judgment 
now.  Still,  I  have  always  been  disposed  to  look  with 
hope  on  those  who  were  striving  to  be  what  they  should 
be." 

That  this  generous  Christian  spirit  should  subject  him 
to  misrepresentation  touched  his  native  humor  at  times. 
It  never  ruffled  him.  In  his  Albany  speech  he  observed : 
"I  have  labored  with  Presbyterians  more  than  with 
Congregationalists.  There  is  a  class  [of  the  former]  with 
whom  I  can  labor  with  all  my  soul."  ("  Old  School "  men.) 
"  I  tell  them  I  know  they  are  not  entirely  Orthodox,  but 
I  can  fellowship  them  truly." 

Another  neighbor,  Dr.  Daniel  Lane,  says  of  his  views 
on  both  denominational  matters  :  "  In  theology  and  church 
polity  his  ultimate  appeal  was  the  Word  of  God.  His 
theology  was  like  that  of  Professors  Park  and  Phelps, 
not  that  which  compromises  the  doctrines  of  inspiration, 
atonement,  and  eschatology." 

"  In  church  government  he  had  no  reverence  for  cen- 
tralized politics  or  any  antiquities  older  or  younger  than 
principles  laid  down  by  Christ  and  the  writers  of  the  New 
Testament." 

After  he  had  laid  down  his  active  work  he  wrote  Presi- 
dent Sturtevant,  in  his  free,  unsectarian  way  :  — 

"  There  are  many  things  about  Methodism  I  can't 
approve.  But  it  sends  men  into  the  field  and  keeps  them 
there  better  than  [our]  voluntary  system  does,  with  the 
present  degree  of  piety  and  self-denial.     What  shall  we 


344  ASA    TURNER. 

say?  That  our  Lord  mistook  in  establishing  the  voluntary 
system,  and  that  he  can  work  through  bishops  and  presid- 
ing elders  better  than  he  could  through  the  brotherhood  t 
Or  that  the  difficulty  is  in  the  want  of  consecration  in  the 
brotherhood,  and  that  our  system  —  Congregationalism  — 
if  imbued  with  the  Spirit  from  on  high  would  have  even 
greater  power  than  any  man-made  system  ?  This  is 
my  belief.  The  conclusion  I  come  to  is  —  the  very  best 
of  us  have  but  little  piety,  little  love  to  God  and  men.  I 
trust  the  time  will  come  when  the  Bible  administration 
of  the  church  will  be  more  efficient  than  any  other,  God's 
children  being  left  to  work  under  our  Master  Christ,  and 
to  go  out  into  the  lanes  and  highways. " 

It  was  his  habit  to  ascribe  the  growth  of  Congrega- 
tionalism in  Iowa  to  his  early  contemporaries  —  whom 
circumstances  had  trained  to  promote  it  —  and  to  the 
unexpected  accession  from  Andover.  The  mixed  mem- 
bership of  the  early  churches  prepared  for  it.  His  own 
pastoral  charge,  in  the  fifties,  embraced  persons  from 
seven  different  sects ;  the  DeWitt  church  was  formed 
with  seven  members  from  four  states  of  the  Union  and 
five  denominations ;  that  of  Cedar  Falls  had  eighteen 
original  members  from  nine  different  denominations.  He 
instructed  and  surprised  the  Albany  Convention  of  1852 
by  showing  how  Christians  of  different  antecedents,  led,  in 
a  new  town,  to  unite  for  their  own  good  and  that  of  their 
families  and  neighbors,  found  themselves  agreeing  on  the 
simple  plan  of  our  fathers  in  church  order,  "  and  behold 
they  are  Congregationalists !  We  have  many  churches 
formed  in  this  way.  ...  I  never  lay  a  straw  in  the  way 
of  the  organization  of  a  Presbyterian  church,  and  I  ask 
them  to  allow  me  the  same  freedom."  His  spirit  in  this 
was  not  exceptional  among  Iowa  Congregationalists. 

At   its  thirteenth  annual  meeting,  in   June,  1852,  the 


DENOMINATIONS  AND    CHRISTIAN   UNITY.         345 

General  Association  passed  unanimously  four  resolutions 
affirming  its  unity  with  the  Presbyterians  "in  doctrine 
and  efforts  to  promote  the  cause  of  Christ " ;  recommend- 
ing "a  union  of  the  members  of  both  denominations  in 
one  church  in  places  where  there  ought  to  be  only  one 
organization " ;  declaring  the  decision  of  the  majority 
upon  the  form  of  church  government  "the  only  proper 
ground  of  union  in  such  cases  "  ;  and 

"  4.  That  this  is  the  principle  upon  which  we  have  ever 
acted,  and  to  which  we  are  willing  to  pledge  ourselves  to 
our  Presbyterian  brethren  for  the  future,  whether  we  act 
unitedly  or  separately  in  the  work  of  missions." 


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